PM pledges UK-wide tracing by 1 June; justice secretary says policy was to protect NHS ahead of care homes due to limited testing capacity
- UK universities facing £760m hit as one in five students plan to defer
- MPs fear ‘two-tier’ Commons if lockdown lifted in UK parliament
- Downing Street lobby briefing – summary
- Fears over capacity for social distancing as England faces 29c weather
- Coronavirus global updates – live
Here’s a closing summary of the main developments today:
Johnson pledges UK-wide coronavirus tracing by 1 June
Brexit on Amazon
The government has bowed to pressure to give indefinite leave to remain to families and dependants of migrant NHS support staff who die as a result of contracting coronavirus.
The move follows criticism that care workers, cleaners and porters had been left out of the scheme, which only applied to certain occupations including nurses, biochemists and radiographers.
Every death in this crisis is a tragedy, and sadly some NHS support staff and social care workers have made the ultimate sacrifice in the pursuit of saving the lives of others.
When I announced the introduction of the bereavement scheme in April, I said we would continue to work across government to look at ways to offer further support. Today we are extending the scheme to NHS support staff and social care workers.