Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Saturday 4 Apr 2020

1. Fears public will ignore lockdown on sunny weekend

Police say they face “one of their biggest challenges” of the lockdown this weekend as sunny weather is expected to attract crowds to parks and beauty spots. Senior medics have urged people to avoid travel for the sake of two nurses who died of coronavirus. The latest figures showed 3,605 people with the virus have died in the UK, with 684 deaths recorded on Friday.

2. Hancock's 100,000 coronavirus test promise ‘unravelling’

The government’s pledge to carry out 100,000 coronavirus tests a day by the end of the month is already “unravelling,” reports The Guardian. NHS lab staff and scientists are warning they do not have the test kits, chemicals and components required to meet the target. However, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he is “absolutely determined to hit the new goal”.

3. Adviser says govt should reconsider herd immunity

A senior government adviser says Britain has “painted itself into a corner” with no clear exit strategy from the coronavirus epidemic and should reconsider herd immunity. Graham Medley, the government’s chief pandemic modeller, said Britain should consider allowing people to catch the virus in the least deadly way possible rather than letting the negative effects of the lockdown continue indefinitely.

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4. Trump to refuse to wear a face mask despite official guidance

Donald Trump has said he will not wear a face mask, despite medical guidance advising Americans to do so. The US president said he could not imagine himself greeting “presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens” in the Oval Office while wearing one. “You do not have to do it,” he said. “I don't think I'm going to be doing it.”

5. Queen to speak to the nation on Sunday in Covid-19 address

The Queen will address the nation and Commonwealth on Sunday, delivering a message on the coronavirus outbreak in a rare special televised broadcast. The monarch, who will be 94 later this month and is said to remain in good health, pre-recorded the address at Windsor Castle. “Be under no illusion, the announcement that the Queen will address the nation is incredibly significant,” says Sky News.

6. Premier League football clubs to ask players to take 30% pay cut

Premier League clubs are to ask players to take a 30% pay cut in order to protect jobs. All clubs have agreed to put the proposed “combination of conditional reductions and deferrals” to their players. The news comes as it was announced the season will not resume until “it is safe and appropriate to do so”.

7. Jeremy Corbyn's wife speaks out on his final day as leader

The wife of Jeremy Corbyn has hit out at his critics on his last day as leader of the party. Laura Alvarez said it had been “incredibly hard” for her to watch her husband vilified by the media and harder still to watch him be attacked by his own party. She added: “The brutal irony is that if we had pulled together, we would have been ready to lead the country.”

8. Homicide rate rockets in Mexico as violence continues to rage

Mexico’s murder rate soared to a new record in March, as violence raged amid the spread of Covid-19. The country registered 2,585 homicides in March – the highest monthly figure since records began in 1997. This means the country is on course to break last year’s record total for murders. Violence has been especially intense in the central state of Guanajuato.

9. Search for missing Kennedy family members is called off

The search for two members of the Kennedy family - Maeve Kennedy McKean and her son, Gideon – has been suspended 26 hours after they were reported missing in the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis, Maryland. “Our crews and partners did everything they could to find them,” said a statement from the Coast Guard.

10. Soul singer Bill Wither dies in Los Angeles at age of 81

Soul legend Bill Withers has died from heart complications aged 81, his family said. The singer died on Monday in Los Angeles, they told the Associated Press. “He spoke honestly to people and connected them to each other,” their statement said. The acclaimed 1970s singer was famous for a string of hits including Ain't No Sunshine and Lean On Me.