Queen speaks to country as toll rises

Queen Elizabeth addressed the British public in a special broadcast on Sunday night, only the fourth time she has done so at a time of national crisis, as Britain was told to prepare for a peak in deaths caused by the COVID-19 disease.

In mainland Europe, however, there were signs of optimism as three of the worst-hit nations — France, Italy and Spain — all recorded a fall in the number of daily deaths, following stringent lockdowns imposed several weeks ago.

The queen told the nation in a pre-recorded speech that she hoped the outbreak will prove the current generation is "as strong as any", as well as highlighting the "enormous changes" the country is currently facing.

Speaking at the daily news briefing, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged all Britons to listen to her advice, and said the nation would need "perseverance in the face of great challenges" but that people should stay at home if they possibly can.

The number of novel coronavirus deaths in Spain has fallen for the third day in a row — a glimmer of hope in the hard-hit country where more than 12,400 have died. Spain reported 674 new deaths on Sunday, a fall of 135 from Saturday.

France saw its daily death toll fall from 558 on Saturday to 441 on Sunday. Italy's death toll on Sunday was 681, as opposed to 766 the day before.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told the nation on Saturday: "We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel." Sanchez has extended lockdown measures by 15 days until April 26, saying the restrictions were "saving lives".

Sunday's figures revealed that a total of 4,934 people have died from the virus in UK hospitals so far — a rise of 621 over 24 hours. A total of 47,806 people have now tested positive in the country.

Epidemiologist Neil Ferguson, who has advised the government on its virus mitigation policies, told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that the country should brace for a peak in the outbreak in "seven days".

Ferguson, a leading expert in the patterns of spread of infectious disease at Imperial College, London, also said there are signs that social distancing measures could be slowing down the pandemic.

"We have just had the first day where new admittances to hospital have reduced day to day. We do expect to see that accelerate over the next week. We think this epidemic in the UK will plateau in the next week to ten days.

"What's critical then is how quickly numbers go down, do we see a long flat peak? Or do we see a faster decline, as we're hoping? That very much depends on how effective the current measures are."

Ferguson also said estimates show between 7,000 and a "little over 20,000" people could die because of the virus in the UK. He however insisted any forecast is subject to "a certain degree" of statistical error.

He said: "What we have is an exponentially growing curve of infection which we interrupted for a certain time. We can't say, in regards of infections, where we are precisely on that curve. We don't have the ability, right now, to measure how many people have been infected, that will come with anti-body tests."

Meanwhile, the Labour Party's newly elected leader has accused the UK government of making "serious mistakes" in tackling the coronavirus crisis, but vowed to support Prime Minister Boris Johnson in efforts to resolve the outbreak.

In an article in The Sunday Times, Keir Starmer vowed to work "constructively" with the prime minister and not provide "opposition for the sake of opposing".

Starmer criticized ministers for being too slow at explaining why the UK is "so far behind" on testing. He also called for delays in the delivery of personal protective equipment — known as PPE — to front-line workers to be "addressed quickly".