Coronavirus live updates: lockdown exit could take months according to experts

Access to coronavirus home testing kits for UK essential workers ran out in just over an hour on Wednesday morning.

Slots for millions more people, including those over 65 and those who live with them, were available to book on the Government website from 8am.

Tests at regional drive-through centres ran out in Wales almost immediately but were still available in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland as of 9.15am.

Official figures show that 137 more people have tested positive for coronavirus in South Yorkshire. 

Public Health England records reveal that there are now 3,665 Covid-19 cases across the region, as of Tuesday 28 April. 

In Sheffield, 57 more people have tested positive, bringing the total number of cases in the city up to 2,009. 

There are now 590 cases of Covid-19 in Barnsley - an increase of 21 from the same time on Monday. 

Rotherham saw a rise of 39 people testing positive for the rise, increasing their total number of cases to 655. 

In Doncaster, a further 20 positive cases were announced, making the total number of people infected with the virus, 411. 

They were among the 16,292 cases recorded across the North East and Yorkshire, a figure which remained unchanged over the period.

Cumulative case counts include patients who are currently unwell, have recovered and those that have died.

Across South Yorkshire the number of confirmed coronavirus cases stands at 3,665 with 438 deaths.

In the UK, 161,145 people have tested positive for coronavirus as of 9am on Tuesday and 21,678 have lost their lives. 

A "much-loved" healthcare assistant has died after testing positive for coronavirus.

Janice Glassey, 66, who worked in the out-of-hours district nursing service for Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in Halton, Cheshire, died on April 24 after contracting the virus, her employers said.

Chief executive of the trust Colin Scales said: "I am extremely saddened to confirm that our colleague Janice Glassey tragically passed away on April 24 after testing positive for coronavirus.

"Janice was 66 and was a healthcare assistant in our out-of-hours district nursing service, where she had worked for 14 years, providing care and compassion to many Halton patients and families.

“She was a much-loved and valued colleague and friend.”

Boris Johnson will not take part in Prime Minister's Questions today, the PA news agency understands, with Dominic Raab expected to face Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

The Government's testing tsar has said he is confident the 100,000 daily target for coronavirus tests will be met on Thursday.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Professor John Newton, director of public health improvement for Public Health England (PHE), said: "We are pretty confident we will hit that target.

"It puts us really right up there with countries like Germany, so we need that now but we need that for the future as well."

There will be a lag in receiving the data but "by the end of the week we will know whether we have reached that target", he added.

There were 81 care home deaths in Sheffield and 441 deaths in Yorkshire as a whole from Covid-19 between April 10 and April 24.

Sheffield Heeley MP Louise Haigh said many staff still had not been tested and although Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is now being supplied to care homes, there are fears supplies will run out.

Prices have also risen dramatically due to demand. Ms Haigh revealed one supplier was now charging a local care home £48 for a box of 50 face masks that would normally cost £3.

She said: “These awful figures highlight the terrible toll that coronavirus is having on elderly and disabled people in care homes.

"The government must immediately get PPE to all care homes, outline today how it intends to test more than 1.2 million frontline social care workers and make sure all residents who test positive can isolate safely.”

The Liberal Democrats accused the council of "taking its eye off the ball". Coun Steve Ayris said: “Many working in the social care sector feel isolated and unsupported by the council.

“Several have complained that PPE equipment is either inadequate or not getting through to frontline care workers and that testing is not being rolled out quickly enough."

Sheffield Council says it has supplied 330,000 items of PPE per week, over a three week period.

This included masks, aprons and gloves and 85 per cent of stock was supplied to the independent care sector.

Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds have announced the birth of a “healthy baby boy at a London hospital earlier this morning”.

Both mother and baby are doing very well, their spokesman said.

There will be daily chartered flights bringing personal protective equipment (PPE) from China to the UK.

Virgin Atlantic announced that it is running daily cargo-only flights from Shanghai to Heathrow bringing essential PPE to the UK.

In April, the airline operated nine cargo-only flights importing kit for frontline workers.

But now it has increased these operations to daily flights through May to July.

It has estimated it will bring more than 1,500 tonnes of essential PPE into the UK - or 43 million individual items.

The 26-hour round trips have been facilitated by the British embassy in China and the Department of Health and Social Care.

The Government is "optimistic" that effective coronavirus antibody tests will be available by the end of May or early June, according to national testing co-ordinator Professor John Newton.

As millions more tests are being rolled out for those with Covid-19 symptoms, Prof Newton said antibody tests - which detect whether a person has had coronavirus - are also in the pipeline.