Covid news - live: Boris Johnson reveals end of lockdown roadmap as Whitty backs five-week gap between stages

Scotland will return to the geographic levels system after lockdown is lifted, Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed.

The first minister is due to announce a road map out of lockdown tomorrow.

Speaking at the coronavirus briefing in Holyrood today, Ms Sturgeon said it would give indications of the phasing of the easing of restrictions, but it would not provide dates for reopening.

She said: "We will seek to set out tomorrow an indicative order of priority and the likely phasing of firstly the gradual lifting of the current lockdown restrictions and then in due course, a return to the geographic levels system when we would decide whether all or parts of the country may move out of level 4 and into level 3, and of course that's the part where more parts of the economy will start to open up.”

Boris Johnson will balance economic and social considerations with the latest scientific advice on the pandemic when he sets out his road map for easing lockdown, Downing Street has said.

Asked about the effect on Jewish communities facing a second Passover in lockdown next month, the prime minister's official spokesman said: "As we have seen throughout the pandemic, it has had a massive impact on people's lives and their ability to meet up with friends and family.

"The road map is designed to bring us out of lockdown cautiously, as the prime minister will state later.

"At every stage it will seek to balance out economic and social factors with the very latest epidemiological data and advice."

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi appeared to have discovered time travel in an interview today, when he got his dates mixed up and suggested children returning to schools in March would have additional protection because of people being vaccinated in April.

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock explains:

There have been a further 319 cases of coronavirus in Wales, taking the total number of confirmed infections to 202,007.

Public Health Wales reported another nine deaths, taking the total in the country since the start of the pandemic to 5,246.

Boris Johnson will be joined by England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance when he gives a televised coronavirus briefing at 7pm today, Downing Street has confirmed.

The prime minister is expected to unveil details of his road map out of England’s coronavirus lockdown.

Hospital admissions of patients with Covid-19 in England are down nearly three-quarters from their second-wave peak, the latest figures show.

According to data from NHS England, a total of 1,068 admissions were reported for 19 February.

The number represents a drop of 74% from a peak of 4,134 recorded for 12 January.

It also represents the lowest number of daily admissions since 28 November, a few days before England emerged from its second lockdown.

Hospital admissions are expected to be part of a range of factors determining the speed of a new plan to ease England out of its current lockdown.

Boris Johnson is expected to unveil the full details of the plan later today.

Sir Keir Starmer has said he hopes Boris Johnson has learned lessons from leading the country through past lockdowns as the prime minister prepares to lay out his lockdown exit plan later this afternoon.

“I want the Prime Minister to learn the lessons of the last two lockdowns,” Sir Keir Starmer told LBC.

“I think he came out too quickly, without caution, and that caused problems because we went back into lockdown.

“Everybody - and I think the Prime Minister is in this place now - wants this to be the last lockdown. So come out cautiously, carefully - that’s the language he is using, so I’m looking for that this afternoon.”

The Labour leader said a cautious approach will also mean that businesses will also need “a bit more support”.

“That will inevitably mean restrictions for a bit longer so businesses desperately need a bit more support - business rate relief, VAT for hospitality - because they are going to struggle for another few months,” he said.

Education unions are calling for a “safe and sustainable” approach to reopening schools after warning it would be “reckless” restart classes all at once.

They have warned that a “big bang” reopening for schools could be dangerous, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepares to unveil a plan that is expected to outline a full reopening of schools starting 8 March.

Zoe Tidman has more on the warning from union leaders:

Keir Starmer has urged teachers not to take industrial action over the government’s back-to-school plan and has warned that they may even need to give up some of their holidays to provide catch-up lessons.

Speaking on Monday, the Labour acknowledged that teachers have been put under “stress and strain” during the pandemic, with Sir Keir asserting unions were right to “stick up for their members”.

However, he said he could not support mooted industrial action over safety concerns after nine teaching unions said the government’s plan to open schools up all at once on 8 March would be “reckless”.

Policy Correspondent Jon Stone has more on the Labour leader’s comments:

Captain Sir Tom Moore’s funeral is set to be held on Saturday, with his family urging Britons to honour his effort to support the NHS by staying home.

The Second World War veteran had made headlines during the first coronavirus lockdown after walking 100 laps of his Bedfordshire garden before his 100th birthday in a bid that raised more than £32 million for the NHS.

After passing that milestone, he died a centenarian at Bedford Hospital on 2 February after testing positive for Covid-19 himself.

In a statement, his daughters Lucy Teixeira and Hannah Ingram-Moore said the funeral service would be a “small family funeral” due to the pandemic.

“Over the past year our father spoke openly about his death and his funeral, and had wondered out loud if perhaps the interest in him over the last 12 months would mean we would need to have more Victoria sponge cakes available for the extra guests,” they said.

“Sadly, like so many other families affected by the pandemic, we have no choice but to hold a small family funeral, which will take place this Saturday.”

While they said they understood that many people wished to pay their respects to Sir Tom, “we ask that the public and the press continue to support the NHS by staying at home”.

“We have been contacted by so many people asking what they can do to honour our father, so we have set up an online book of condolence,” they added.

“People can also donate to The Captain Tom Foundation, plant a tree in his memory or donate to a charity of your choice.”

The funeral is expected to be attended by eight members of Sir Tom’s immediate family, in line with current coronavirus restrictions, PA has reported.

Once coronavirus restrictions have lifted, the family will inter Sir Tom’s ashes in Yorkshire in the Moore family plot.

He had told his family he wished to be cremated and for his ashes to be taken to Yorkshire, but said he would not mind a “little white headstone somewhere to mark my existence, a bit like the ones they have in military cemeteries,” PA reported.

For the epitaph Sir Tom had reportedly asked for a “simple inscription of my name, the dates of my earthly span, and the words: ‘I told you I was old”’ - in a nod to comedian Spike Milligan’s famous epitaph “I told you I was ill”.