There have now been more than three million cases of Covid-19 recorded around the world, according to tracking by Johns Hopkins University, external.

More than 208,000 people are known to have died.

Asked again what services will be available at hospitals, Matt Hancock says it will be a "locally driven approach".

The health secretary says: "Of course the principle is the most urgent treatment should be brought back first and that it needs to be according to local demands on the system.

"So I can't give you a concrete, single number answer, but it will be gradually, over weeks, and starting from tomorrow."

They are also asked about warnings around a small number of children become seriously ill - may this be a new feature of the virus?

The minister and government advisors all say they have been made aware of the reports, and that they are looking into it as "a matter of urgency".

Stephen Powis adds: "Our advice to parents is... if you are worried about a child becoming sick and not recovering, contact 111 or in an emergency call 999.

"The NHS emergency services are there for sick children."

The health secretary is asked whether the government will extend business rate relief to more firms in Sheffield and what it will do to support micro-breweries in the city which were enjoying a "golden age" before the pandemic, including a suspension in beer duty.

Mr Hancock says pubs and restaurants have "obviously been hit very hard" by social distancing and, as someone who worked in business before entering politics, he has every sympathy for them.

While would be "tempted" to announce specific support for brewers, he says this is a matter for the chancellor, pointing out that Rishi Sunak announced earlier that business interruption loans for small firms had been extended from 80% to 100%.

The latest charts on the amount of mobility in the UK shows a "very slight increase" in the number of people walking, but the use of public transport remains largely flat, said Prof Whitty.

He said earlier that there was a "very slight trending up in the use of motor vehicles", but overall the amount of transport use remains "largely unchanged".

He called it evidence that "the great majority of people are continuing to honour the lockdown".

Image source, UK government

Mr Hancock said the family of NHS and frontline staff who die from coronavirus will receive a £60,000 payment.

Asked if the announcement some medical treatments will be available again from tomorrow shows signs of the end of lockdown, Stephen Powis disagrees.

The medical director of NHS England says it is the "reverse", adding: "It is a sign that lockdown and the measures taken - and everyone following them - means we are now seeing decline in patients in hospital with Covid-19.

"And that is providing the capacity to restart services such as elective surgery.

"It gives us room for manoeuvre."

Matt Hancock again reminds people that access to emergency treatment "has never been lockdowned."

He adds: "It is one of the four reasons you should leave your house.

"What we can do though is now have capacity in the NHS to start reopening some services, we can do that."

The next question focuses on children and the effect sending them back to school may have.

Chris Whitty says the great majority of children don't get coronavirus or their symptoms are minor.

"It doesn't mean there aren't a small number of cases, including some that are very severe, but relative to adults it is much less," he adds.

But Prof Whitty says there is "quite a debate in science around the world" about what contribution children make in spreading the virus.

"Unfortunately we do not yet have direct data that helps us, as it is a new virus and we still are really learning," he says.

The panel are asked by the FT's Sebastian Payne about press reports that people arriving in the UK could be quarantined for two weeks and whether tighter controls at the border can be expected.

Mr Hancock says the UK did not consider testing people at the border earlier during the outbreak because travel restrictions meant relatively few people were arriving and the number of imported cases were low as a proportion of total cases.

But he says that, as the number of UK cases begins to fall in the next phase, this equation could change as it has in other countries, and he says the government will have "more to say" on potential controls.

On a separate question about antibody tests, Prof Whitty says he does not expect there to be a major breakthrough in the coming months but a series of "small, incremental steps" forward.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

Interesting to hear Health Secretary Matt Hancock saying there is going to be enough testing capacity to move out of lockdown. He cites Germany, which is using only half of its 800,000-a-week testing capacity with community testing. If we get to 100,000 a day – the target for the end of this month – that would suggest there would be enough.

The challenge then is the last two parts of the test, track and trace strategy. That will require the use of digital technologies and the 18,000-strong army of tracers who will help identify the close contacts of people who are infected to help contain local outbreaks once restrictions are eased.

The next question is about the infection rate - known as the reproduction rate - which is about the number of people someone passes on the virus to.

Chris Whitty says the further away the 'r' is from one, the better.

"It will mean the peak will fall away faster," he adds, "and there will be greater room for manoeuvre for ministers in trying to think through what could be reintroduced."

He will not give an exact number, but says the rate is currently between 0.5 and one.

But he adds: "There isn't a magic number. Lower is better, but there is not a specific number that it has to be."

Sky's Beth Rigby asks the UK panel if they want to revise expectations for the total number of people who will die, referring to comments by the chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallence in March that keeping deaths across the UK below 20,000 would be a "good outcome"

Chris Whitty says he is "very cautious" about predicting the course of the virus while stressing that the figure is now clearly going to be comfortably above 20,000, given that limit has already been exceeded.

He says the virus could develop in a "number of different ways" and it would be a "big mistake" to speculate on this right now.

Image source, Getty Images

While the UK briefing has been going on we've heard that Italy’s new cases have dropped to a seven-week low. Meanwhile, restoration work is getting underway again at Notre-Dame. Here’s the latest from Europe:

• The latest figures from Italy show new confirmed cases dropped to their lowest number since the outbreak began. The recorded death toll rose by 333 in the last 24 hours to 26,977, higher than the 260 reported the previous day. Italy will slowly ease the longest lockdown in Europe from 4 May
• Face masks are now mandatory on public transport throughout Germany. Most states have also made them compulsory when shopping. Authorities however have said simple face coverings will do, and has asked people to leave medical masks for health professionals
• Russia has officially confirmed 87,147 cases of the virus, surpassing China’s case total. Lockdown restrictions have been in place since the end of March and are due to expire this week, but there are calls for them to be extended into May

• Restoration is back under way at Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris. Workers returned on Monday to make the construction site compliant with social distancing measures

Reality Check

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has encouraged people to use the NHS if they need to for things like chest pain, and not be put off by coronavirus.

The latest weekly figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that 18,516 people had died from all causes in the UK in the week to 10 April, external

That figure was 7,996 more than the average for the time of year, but 6,213 of those people had coronavirus mentioned on their death certificates.

That means 1,783 extra people died who were not suspected of having coronavirus. We are not sure what they died of, but the health secretary is keen to avoid extra deaths due to people being reluctant to go to A&E if they need to.

Chris Whitty talks through the latest data on new cases and hospitalisations which he says are broadly encouraging.

New cases are broadly flat or falling while over the last week the number of people in hospital with the virus has fallen by 16% to 15,712. He says there are variations around the UK, with numbers falling quicker in London faster than elsewhere.

He says the data suggest we are at or past the peak but the drop-off since has not been marked, hence the need for continued caution.

The next question - and back to the journalists - is on the life assurance scheme.

The reporter asks whether overseas workers or those who have come back to the NHS after retiring will be entitled.

Matt Hancock says yes, adding: "This is for frontline staff working in the NHS and social care who die and are employees."

And he repeats the government is looking at other groups of workers who may need a similar scheme.

Image source, PA

The first question from a journalist is from the BBC's health editor Hugh Pym who asks about progress on testing.

Mr Hancock says the UK is "on track" to hit its target of 100,000 tests by the end of month.

He says more than 37,000 tests were carried out in the last 24 hours and there has been a huge demand for home testing kits ordered online, with more than 5,000 despatched.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

Health secretary Matt Hancock once again makes the point NHS open for business – and for the first time signifies services will start getting back to normal.

From tomorrow cancer care and mental health support will start being re-instated. Cancer surgery and treatment have been largely protected, but the amount of screening and referrals have dropped.

The reason he has been able to do this is because there is now significant evidence the peak has passed and there is reasonable headroom in the NHS – over 3,000 intensive care beds are available, while the number of beds on general wards occupied by coronavirus patients has dropped to under 16,000 from a peak of over 20,000.

"Starting tomorrow, we'll begin the restoration of other NHS services starting with the most urgent like cancer care and mental health support," Mr Hancock says.

"The exact pace of the restoration will be determined by local circumstances on the ground."

Lynne from Skipton is the first member of the public to get her question asked.

She says she is missing her grandchildren so much, and wants to know if when measures start to be eased, being able to hug them will be one of the first steps.

Prof Chris Whitty says for many, being able to interact with family is "absolutely essential".

But he warns that it "depends on the situation", and if she is older and needs to be shielded, she will still need to be protected.

Matt Hancock says he understands the impact of not being able to hug closest family, adding: "It affects all of us too.

"We just hope we can get back to that as soon as possible and way to get there fastest is to follow the rules on social distancing."

As is customary, Chris Whitty now runs through the latest data on transport use, to illustrate changes in people’s support for social distancing.

He says there was a smaller increase, of five percentage points, in traffic volumes on Saturday compared with the week before.

But he says the data remains largely unchanged and the great majority of people are “consistently” continuing to heed the guidance and “honouring the lockdown”.