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Boris Johnson is facing renewed pressure to sack Dominic Cummings after it was reported his chief adviser had flouted lockdown rules twice in the same month.
Labour and the SNP demanded that the head of the civil service launch an urgent investigation into the separate 500-mile round trips between London and County Durham. Meanwhile the UK death toll rose by 282 in a day to 36,675, according to the latest government figures.
In the US, Donald Trump headed to the golf course as a large study into the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine suggested it is linked to an increased risk of death in hospitalised Covid-19 patients.
Responding to the new claims over Mr Cummings’ movements, acting leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Ed Davey called for the Downing Street aide to be sacked.
He said: “If Dominic Cummings is now allowed to remain in place a moment longer, it will increasingly be the prime minister’s judgment that is in the spotlight.
“Surely Boris Johnson must now recognise the actions of his top adviser are an insult to the millions who have made huge personal sacrifices to stop the spread of coronavirus.
“Each minute the prime minister allows this scandal to drag on is another minute the Government is distracted from upscaling Britain’s testing capacity, securing PPE for frontline workers and ending tragic deaths in our care homes.”
According to the new reports, the prime minister’s chief aid was spotted by witnesses in County Durham on three separate occasions.
He was next seen in Barnard Castle on 12 April, two days before he returned to work at Downing Street.
Coincidentally, Barnard Castle is just off the A66, which Grant Shapps proudly announced would be upgraded to a dual carriageway during his epic attempt to justify defend Mr Cummings’ movements.
Piers Morgan has said the government’s excuses for Mr Cummings’ actions have now gone “up in smoke” following reports of another breach of lockdown by the adviser
SNP’s Blackford: ‘Boris Johnson must sack Dominic Cummings’
Responding to the new claims in The Mirror and The Guardian about Mr Cummings, SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has said the adviser “must” be sacked.
“It is clear that Boris Johnson must sack Dominic Cummings,” Mr Blackford wrote on Twitter.
“When the PMs top advisor ignores the government’s instruction to the public not to engage in non-essential travel he has to leave office. Immediately.”
Boris Johnson’s senior adviser Dominic Cummings has been accused of breaching lockdown rules again by visiting his parents for a second time in April, according to reports.
The Daily Mirror reported that Mr Cummings was spotted with his wife in Houghall Woods near the family’s Durham home on 19 April – two weeks after his first sighting.
Downing Street previously claimed the senior adviser was acting “in line with coronavirus guidelines” with his first visit.
Meanwhile, The Guardian said it had a witness who suggested Mr Cummings left the home he was staying at in Durham to visit a town 30 miles away.
US deaths rise to more than 96,000
US health officials have reported nearly 2,000 new coronavirus deaths, bringing the country’s total fatalities to 96,002.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 24,268 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, bringing the US total to 1,595,885 cases, and 1,852 new deaths.
CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.
Iraq reports steepest single-day spike in new cases
Iraq’s Health Ministry has reported its steepest single-day spike in confirmed coronavirus cases since the government began recording cases in late February.
The ministry reported 308 new cases on Saturday, one day ahead of celebrations to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Curfew hours have been relaxed during the month of fasting, which contributed to higher daily rates of infection.
According to ministry figures, more than 4,200 people have tested positive for the virus in Iraq and at least 152 people have died.
Mosque prayers to resume in Turkey
Turkey will partially allow congregational prayer gatherings in mosques to resume from 29 May as long as social distancing rules are followed.
The Turkish interior ministry announced the new rules surrounding mosques on Friday, as the country begins to ease lockdown restrictions after two months.
Spain will open to foreign tourists from July, its prime minister said on Saturday, promising that the country would guarantee the safety of visitors as it emerges from one of the most draconian coronavirus lockdowns in Europe.
“I am announcing to you that from the month of July, entry for foreign tourists into Spain will resume in secure conditions,” Pedro Sánchez said at a press conference.
The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner has called on Boris Johnson to sack Dominic Cummings to “restore public confidence” in the government’s handling of the crisis.
In a statement, David Jamieson, a former Labour MP, said: “The police’s job of enforcing the lockdown has been made much harder after both the actions of Dominic Cummings travelling over 260 miles and the flexibility with which the Government now seem to interpret the guidance.
“People will now say there is one rule for them and one rule for the prime minister’s political advisers.
“Across the country, millions of people are making sacrifices, including scores of police officers and staff who have separated from their families to protect their health and the health of the nation.
“It seems beyond belief that to justify the breach of guidance they appear to now be questioning the honesty and credibility of Durham Police.
“The prime minster, Boris Johnson, should sack Dominic Cummings forthwith, to restore public confidence and some credibility to his handling of this dreadful Covid-19 crisis.”
A snap poll carried out by YouGov shows 52 per cent of people think Dominic Cummings should resign as the PM’s chief adviser over his lockdown trip to Durham.
It also found that 68 per cent of the 3,707 respondents think that Mr Cummings broke lockdown rules by making the journey.
Chris Curtis, political research manager at YouGov, said: “These are clearly troubling numbers for the Government and Mr Cummings. The public already thought that the Government was too hasty in lifting parts of lockdown and it’s likely they will be even less impressed if key public figures are perceived to have broken rules they think are not strict enough.
“Of course, the Government will be hoping everyone quickly moves on from a story about a relatively unknown adviser, but it’s going to be tough when the public thinks he was wrong and that he should go.”
Watch the transport secretary insist that by travelling 260 miles from London to Durham, Dominic Cummings was in fact “staying put”.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo advised people to exercise good judgement and social distancing following the loosening of restrictions of gatherings late on Friday.
“You can have a safe gathering of 10 people or you can have a wholly unsafe gathering of 10 people,” said Cuomo. “If you don’t have to be with a group of ten people don’t be with a group of ten people.”
In his daily briefing on Saturday, he said New York recorded 84 coronavirus deaths on 22 May compared with 109 the day before, continuing a downward trend in the state’s toll from the pandemic.
A further 48 deaths and 361 new cases have been reported in Spain, as far-right protesters called for an end to the left-wing government’s lockdown restrictions.
Several thousand followers of the Vox party gathered in their cars and on motorbikes in the centre of Madrid and other cities for a “Caravan for Spain and Liberty”.
The party accuses the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of lying about the impact of the health crisis and of violating Spaniards’ rights by confining people to their homes and closing businesses.
“We will never forget what they have done,” Vox leader Santiago Abascal said from the open-top bus leading the caravan as it inched down a Madrid boulevard.
“Do not doubt that we will make them face justice. They know it and fear our freedom. That is why they try to intimidate us.”
“When Cummings acts, the sheer power of his intellect changes the rules around him, even the ones that he made himself,” writes political sketch writer Tom Peck.
“Stay Home. Protect the NHS. Save Lives. Drive 260 miles up the A1 with a car full of coronavirus….”
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has called on the head of the civil service to investigate the “rule-breaking and the Tory Government’s cover-up” of Dominic Cummings’ lockdown journey to Durham.
Mr Blackford said: “I have written to Sir Mark Sedwill seeking an immediate investigation into the rule-breaking and the Tory Government’s cover-up – and to call for Dominic Cummings to resign or be sacked.
“Boris Johnson must answer serious questions about his role in this incident and the cover-up – including when he found out, when he heard about the police action, why Mr Cummings wasn’t sacked immediately, and why he kept the public in the dark for eight weeks until a newspaper broke the story.
“Dominic Cummings’ position is completely untenable.
“This is a matter of leadership and judgment for the Prime Minister who must prevent lasting damage to his Government and his own reputation.
“Millions of us have made huge sacrifices over the months to obey the rules, while Boris Johnson’s most senior adviser was breaking them.
“There cannot be one rule for the Tory Government and another for the rest of us.”
“I behaved reasonably and legally,” the prime minister’s chief aide told reporters outside his house this evening.
Asked if he would consider his position, he said: “Obviously not.”
He added: “You guys are probably all about as right about that as you were about Brexit: do you remember how right you all were about that?”
Donald Trump has visited a golf course for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic struck – a day after a top physician said at White House briefing anyone playing should observe social distancing rules.
As coronavirus infections in the country reached 1.6m and the number of deaths passed 96,000, the president made his way to the Trump National Golf Club, at Sterling, Virginia.
The transport secretary has insisted the government’s chief advisor Dominic Cummings did not break the lockdown rules when he made a 500-mile round trip to his family in Durham.
Giving the government’s daily press conference on coronavirus, Grant Shapps said Mr Cummings had “stayed put” after he developed symptoms of coronavirus.
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