Boris Johnson vowed that key workers who lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic will not be forgotten, as the UK fell silent in their honour.
People paused in a sombre nationwide tribute to the sacrifice made by those on the frontline, in roles ranging from doctors and nurses to carers, cleaners, porters and bus drivers.
Healthcare staff, some tearful, bowed their heads in memory of colleagues, followed in some areas by applause, while elsewhere traffic stopped as essential workers in all key sectors were remembered.
Mr Johnson, who has just returned to work after recovering from Covid-19, joined the countrywide commemoration, which the Unison union, the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal of College of Nursing had campaigned for.
Mr Johnson stood in silence alongside Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill and Chancellor Rishi Sunak inside Number 10, while First Minister Nicola Sturgeon marked the moment outside St Andrew’s House.
Afterwards, the prime minister tweeted: “This morning I took part in a minute’s silence to remember those workers who have tragically died in the coronavirus pandemic. The nation will not forget you.”
In all more than 20,000 people have now died in UK hospitals from Covid-19, but when care home deaths are accounted for the true figure is likely to be more than 40,000. Of those, more than 100 NHS and social care workers have lost their lives.
The number of deaths on the frontline has prompted criticism of the government for failing to procure enough protective equipment to keep staff safe.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said “too many” frontline workers had died, adding: “Nobody should put their lives at risk because they haven’t got the right protective equipment.
“We owe it to them to make sure that we’ve got the right equipment, in the right place at the right time, and we will continue to press on that.”
Downing Street said yesterday that PPE was a “top priority” and that Mr Johnson had used his first meeting of the Covid-19 war Cabinet since his recovery from Covid-19 to focus on the need to secure more supplies.
“We have been working to secure gowns and other PPE from across the globe – and domestically – for a number of months”, the prime minister’s spokesman said.
Some 12 million items of PPE were delivered on Monday to 227 trusts and care settings, including gloves, aprons, three different types of masks, eye protectors and gowns
Health Secretary Matt Hancock, speaking at the daily Downing Street press conference, said officials were “moving heaven and earth to get the amount of PPE that we need to the frontline”.
“We’ve been both buying it from abroad and also then distributing it, that system is getting stronger all the time, but it is a mammoth effort to do.
“What we do have is constant focus on the realities of getting PPE to the frontline, and we take full responsibility for getting it to every single person who needs it.”
Mr Hancock went on to say that the UK Government was on track to meet the goal of 100,000 coronavirus tests a day and now had the capacity to carry out more than 70,000 tests a day.
He said the dispatch of home test kits would be expanded to 25,000 a day by the end of the week while mobile testing units manned by the army will total more than 70 by the end of the week.
“All of this has led to an increase in daily testing capacity, which now stands at 73,400. This has allowed us progressively to expand access to testing.”
He also revealed that a drug to treat Covid-19 would be entering clinical trials.
Mr Hancock said a UK therapeutics task force working to see if current drugs can be effectively deployed against the disease have identified a number of “promising candidates”.
“Currently, six different treatments have been entered into national clinical trials and the first is ready to enter the next stage”, he said.
