Britain marks VE Day anniversary under lockdown

The Welsh government provided these slides on the estimated 0.8 R value in Wales and the various projected impacts on hospital admissions and deaths if that changes.

Three modest changes to lockdown in Wales

The first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, says it is too soon to ease the lockdown in Wales.

He says the R reproductive rate of the virus in Wales is currently estimated to be 0.8. He warned that 800 people would die of the virus in Wales, but if the lockdown is lifted that figure would increase to more than 7,000.

Drakeford said three “small and modest adjustments” could be made in Wales.

People will be allowed to exercise more than once a day. But it should be local and not involve any travel.

Garden centres should be open with physical distancing measures.

Local authorities can plan to open libraries and recycling centres.

There was no mention of schools.

UK scientists’ fury over attempt to censor Covid-19 advice

Government scientific advisers are furious at what they see as an attempt to censor their advice on government proposals during the Covid-19 lockdown by heavily redacting an official report before it was released to the public, the Guardian can reveal.

The report was one of a series of documents published by the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage) this week to mollify growing criticism about the lack of transparency over the advice given to ministers responding to the coronavirus.

However large blocks of text in the report, produced by SPI-B, the Sage subcommittee providing advice from behavioural scientists on how the public might respond to lockdown measures, were entirely blanked out.

Several SPI–B members told the Guardian that the redacted portions of the document contained criticisms they had made of potential government policies they had been formally asked to consider in late March and early April.