Inside Politics – Coronavirus special: Dominic Raab points to positive signs in battle against virus

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If you have time for a good cry this morning, it’s worth catching up with actor Idris Elba’s recording of Edgar Albert Guest’s Don’t Quit – a poem put to a montage of scenes from NHS hospitals by the BBC. “Stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit” is a message Dominic Raab is keen to get across too. The foreign secretary says the nation is now going through the peak of the virus, urging everyone to stick with social distancing “and we will get through this crisis together”. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing during the coronavirus outbreak.

Inside the bubble

Our chief political commentator John Rentoul on what to look out for today:

Quieter than ever in Westminster today. It would be the Easter recess anyway, but the justice select committee is taking evidence this afternoon by videolink on coronavirus in prisons and the probation service from Lucy Frazer, the prisons minister, and head of the Probation Service Jo Farrar. The prime minister's spokesperson will brief journalists off-camera at noon, and a minister will chair the daily televised news conference later in the afternoon.

Daily briefing

NO REST FOR THE WEARY: Striking a balance between gravity and optimism, Dominic Raab said the evidence suggests that although Britain is “going through the peak of this crisis”, positive signs show we are “starting to win this struggle”. The foreign secretary said lockdown restrictions were unlikely to be eased when the government’s scientific advisory committee meets to assess the data later this week. It came as deaths in UK hospitals rose by 717 on Monday, the third consecutive day that number fell, while the number of new cases appears to be levelling off. However, chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance revealed that 92 care homes have experienced a coronavirus outbreak in the last 24 hours alone, as concerns grow over the failure to count care home deaths in the official toll. Sir Patrick also suggested the government could change its guidance to recommend the public wear masks, if more evidence came in showing it was beneficial.

ALL IN IT TOGETHER? A new BMG poll for The Independent has revealed ethnic minorities and young people are taking a disproportionate economic hit during the coronavirus crisis. It shows black and minority ethnic (Bame) Britons are almost twice as likely as white people in the UK to report having lost income and jobs. Workers aged under 35 are more likely to have been made unemployed or “furloughed” than older colleagues. Operation Black Vote director Simon Woolley said the findings were “shocking”. It’s clear not everyone is experiencing the crisis equally. Downing Street was forced to defend the decision to offer a coronavirus test to Michael Gove’s daughter while some NHS staff are forced to wait. After the Cabinet Office minister was spotted out jogging, No 10 explained he had been given special permission by the chief medical officer to have his symptom-showing daughter tested. The result came back negative, allowing him to return to work.

DODGY BEHAVIOUR DOSSIER: Labour has called for the number of people dying in care homes to be published daily so the “true scale” of the problem can become clear. The opposition also urged the government to boost care home testing. Keir Starmer would like to focus on his “constructive” approach to holding ministers to account, but he has more toxic mess inside his own party to deal with. The leader has launched an “urgent investigation” into a leaked internal report setting out very non-constructive behaviour by anti-Corbyn officials. The dossier suggests factionalism by people on Labour’s right made it harder to deal with antisemitism – and shows some hoped to lose the 2017 general election in the expectation Corbyn would be ousted soon afterwards. An election night chat log after it was clear Labour had overturned the Tory majority shows one official saying the result was the “opposite to what I had been working towards for the last couple of years”.

NEW NORMAL? If you were in any doubt about the awfulness of this virus, the World Health Organisation has declared the Covid-19 disease to be 10 times deadlier than the swine flu of 2009. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said new data was “giving us a clearer picture”. With a vaccine not yet on the horizon, is it inevitable we’ll all be wearing face masks soon? Dr David Nabarro, WHO’s coronavirus special envoy, said he believed masks would become commonplace in the future. “Some form of facial protection I’m sure is going to become the norm – not least to give people reassurance,” he told the BBC. Something out of the norm is going on in Indonesia to encourage social distancing. Young people on the island of Java are dressing up as mythical “pocong” – trapped souls of the dead – to get older people to stay indoors.

CALLING THE SHOTS: Donald Trump has given some strange press conferences in the past few weeks, but Monday’s briefing was his wildest yet. He claimed to have “total” authority in lifting lockdowns nationwide, contradicting both governors and constitutional experts who pointed out states are responsible for public order. “The president of the United States calls the shots,” he said before a series of angry exchanges with reporters and rants against the media. Despite retweeting a message about firing Dr Anthony Fauci, Trump described his public health adviser as “a wonderful guy.” Elsewhere, New York state saw fewer than 700 daily deaths from the virus for the time in a week. “The worst is over – if we continue to be smart,” said governor Andrew Cuomo.

LOCKDOWN DIVERGENCE: President Emmanuel Macron announced an extension to the lockdown across France, keeping restrictions in place until 11 May. It comes at a time when the virus is showing signs of slowing down, with the number of French patients in intensive care falling on Monday. “There is hope, but nothing is for certain in this battle,” Macron said in his TV address. He signalled leisure activities will remain banned until at least mid-July. Other countries are beginning to open back up. Austria is re-opening DIY shops, garden centres and other outlets on Tuesday. And Spain’s left-wing government has decided to partially relax restrictions, allowing mainly construction and manufacturing workers to return to work after two weeks of economic hibernation.

On the record

“There are early optimistic signs that the steps we are taking are working but until we know more, until we have solid evidence, we must stick with it.”

Nicola Sturgeon says the lockdown ‘not likely’ to be lifted soon.

From the Twitterati

“After that horror show today, #TrumpMeltdown is trending. And it was indeed bizarre.”

MSNBC host Joy Reid on the latest Trump press conference...

“F***ing grown a** man toddler. #TrumpMeltdown.”

…while actor Jeffrey Wright cuts to the chase.

Essential reading

Vince Cable, The Independent: Millions of people are facing hunger – and our benefits system isn’t prepared

Emma Burrell, The Independent: Women lead many of the nations dealing best with the coronavirus – proof a level playing field can help us all

Maurice Glasman, New Statesman: The coronavirus crisis sounds the death knell for liberal globalisation

Aviva Shen, Slate: Don’t be a coronavirus narc

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