Katy Balls

After Boris Johnson's admission to hospital, Dominic Raab tried to use Monday's daily press conference to reassure the public that the Prime Minister was still firmly in charge: 'I can tell you that the PM had a comfortable night in hospital, and he’s in good spirits. He’s still in hospital under observation. He is being given regular updates on developments, and he continues to lead the government. I can reassure the British people that the Government remains united in a single overriding priority, which is to defeat the coronavirus and see this nation through the challenge ahead.' However, the message was complicated by the Q and A.

After a week of criticism over the government's lack of mass testing, Matt Hancock and deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam used Friday's press conference to try and move the focus to other methods for tackling the coronavirus outbreak. The Health Secretary reiterated that social distancing remains the best way to prevent spread of the disease and called on the public to resist the sunny weather this weekend and remain indoors. When it comes to treating those already infected, Hancock said clinical trials could be key.  Hancock said the UK is a world leader in clinical trials and there has been a big push within government to unlock this potential to help with the recovery route out from the outbreak.

The daily government press conference had a familiar theme today: politicians and advisers struggling to answer questions on the scale of coronavirus testing in the UK. Michael Gove and deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries both spoke of the importance of testing, but struggled to explain what they plan to do to stop the UK lagging behind countries in Asia, as well as Germany, when it comes to testing. Gove suggested there was a shortage of the relevant 'chemical reagents' while Harries said the focus – given current capacity – was rightly on testing of NHS staff. There was good news in terms of the number of ventilators with Gove promising that thousands of new ventilators are to be delivered to the NHS in the next week.

Those who tuned into the government's daily press conference were given a glimpse of what will come to pass if Boris Johnson has to take a break from his duties as a result of his coronavirus diagnosis. The government's 'designated survivor' Dominic Raab led the conference – providing an update on Foreign Office efforts to bring Brits stranded abroad back home. A £75 million fund has been set up with the aim of bringing tens of thousands home.  However, the main update came from Chief Scientific Officer Patrick Vallance who gave a presentation on the effect social distancing has had in the UK so far through four graphs. Vallance said there had been promising signs when it comes to slowing transmission of the virus.