Excess deaths reached almost 55,000 in early May, says ONS

In her opening statement at the press conference Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, also said that the Scottish government was spending an extra £33m on measures to get people back to work. Most of the money would go to Fair Start Scotland and would be used to support young people, disabled people and lone parents, she said.

Sturgeon says Scotland has recorded 29 more coronavirus deaths, taking total to 2,134

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, has just started giving her daily briefing.

She says a further 29 coronavirus deaths have been registered in Scotland, taking the total to 2,134.

Leading government science adviser says school opening a political decision, not scientific one

At the start of the coronavirus crisis politicians and their scientific advisers seemed united, an impression created by Boris Johnson appearing with Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, its chief scientific adviser, at the first government press conferences.

But these days Johnson rarely shows up and the scientists and the politicians are engaging in the preliminary rounds of a ‘blame game’ battle that will no doubt come to a grim and acrimonious conclusion at the long-awaited public inquiry.

Ministers stress they have been following the science, and this morning Thérése Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, took that formula to its logical conclusion by effectively saying it meant that, if the wrong decisions were taken, that was because the scientists gave the wrong advice. (See 9.32am.)

This morning Prof John Edmunds, professor of infectious disease modelling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a member of Sage, the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, has been giving evidence to the Lords science committee and he offered a different perspective. His department has been responsible for some of the modelling that has helped to inform government decision making. But, when asked about whether schools should open, he insisted that ultimately this was a decision for politicians, not scientists. He said:

Clearly the decision to open primary schools or not is a political one. It is not a scientific decision. Scientists can offer some advice.

It looks like the risk to children is low and that the vast majority don’t have significant symptoms … It may be that they are less likely to transmit to others as well, and so the risk to others may be relatively low.

But, overall, you have to weigh up those risks with other things, risks to the community, problems with children – clearly, we can’t keep children off school forever. Weighing all of those things needs to be done by politicians.