16,060 people have now died in the UK’s hospitals from Coronavirus.
As of 9am this morning 482,063 tests have concluded, with 21,626 tests on 18 April and
372,967 people have been tested of which 120,067 tested positive.
Fronting this afternoon’s Downing Street press conference, the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson refuted suggestions in the press that schools were set to return on the 11th May saying the Government needed to meet five tests before setting a deadline for reopening of schools.
Repeating the tests outlined on Thursday by Dominic Raab he said that they were the NHS’s ability to cope, daily death rates decreasing, reliability of data on rate of infection falling, testing capacity and PPE are being managed with supply meeting demand and any changes the government makes will not risk a second peak of infections.
Williamson also announced that the government is ordering laptops for disadvantaged young people, and laptops and tablets for children with social workers and care leavers and for children without without internet connection, the government will provide free 4G routers while schools are closed and exempt “certain education resources from data charges so this does not add to household expenses”.
The Government will be launching Oak National Academy on Monday 20 April, alongside the BBC who are launching their own package of learning resources.
The enterprise was set up by 40 teachers from some of the leading schools across England, backed by government grant funding. It will provide 180 video lessons each week, across a broad range of subjects from maths to art to languages, for every year group from Reception through to Year 10.
