a study involving 20,000 households in england, coordinated by the office for national statistics, will track the progress of covid-19 and seek to better understand infection and immunity levels, with volunteers asked to provide nose and throat swabs on a regular basis to determine whether they have the virus. matt hancock states that daily test capacity has reached 51,000, and announces that all key workers and members of their households are now eligible for covid-19 tests and will be able to book tests through the government website from the following day. tests will be conducted at drive-through centres or using home testing kits, while mobile testing units operated by the armed forces would increase in number from the present eight to 92, with a further four operated by civilians in northern ireland. hancock also announces preparations to reactivate contact tracing in a later phase of the outbreak, including the recruitment of 18,000 contact tracers to greatly supplement public health england's staff. diy chain b&q confirms it has reopened 155 of its stores following a trial opening of a small number of outlets the previous weekend. bbc one airs the big night in, a first-of-its-kind joint broadcast with children in need and comic relief, and featuring an evening of music and entertainment. the broadcast celebrates the acts of kindness, humour and the spirit of hope and resilience that is keeping the nation going during the unprecedented covid-19 pandemic, with viewers given a chance to donate to a fund helping local charities and projects around the country. the event raises £27m for charity, with the government pledging to double that amount. at 8pm the uk stages a fifth round of applause for nhs staff and key workers. 24 april the website for key workers to book a covid-19 test temporarily closes after a high demand for the tests; 5,000 test kits are ordered within its first two minutes online. the government says it will make more tests available. transport secretary grant shapps announces bilateral discussions with the irish and french governments to safeguard freight routes, and with the northern ireland executive regarding support for passenger flights. funding is to be provided to support ferry routes to northern ireland, the isle of wight and the isles of scilly. a version of "you'll never walk alone" recorded by captain tom moore and michael ball to raise money for the nhs charities together fund reaches number one in the uk singles chart. 25 april the number of recorded deaths increases by 813, taking the total past 20,000 to 20,319. thus the uk becomes the fifth country to pass the 20,000 mark along with the united states, italy, spain and france. after figures show that a&e attendances are half their usual level, the health service urges people to seek healthcare if needed and not be put off by covid-19 outbreak. covid-19 tests for key workers are booked up within an hour. guernsey partially lifts its lockdown restrictions, allowing gardeners, mechanics, estate agents and builders to return to work. 26 april the figure of 413 recorded deaths is the lowest daily total in april. professor stephen powis tells the downing street daily briefing the benefit of social distancing is beginning to be felt, with the stabilisation of the number of new cases, and a reduction of the number of people in hospital. 27 april in his first public statement since returning to work, boris johnson says the uk is "at the moment of maximum risk" but "we are now beginning to turn the tide" as he urges people not to lose patience with the restrictions. the government announces that the families of nhs and care workers who die because of covid-19 will be entitled to a payment of £60,000. the number of recorded deaths from covid-19 rises by 360, taking the total to 21,092. this is the lowest daily rise for four weeks. 28 april figures from the office for national statistics for the week ending 17 april show 22,351 deaths registered in england and wales, nearly double the five-year average and the highest weekly total since comparable records began in 1993. the ons report indicates a third of covid-19 deaths in england and wales are occurring in care homes, with 2,000 recorded in the week ending 17 april, and the number of deaths from all causes in care homes is almost three times the number recorded three weeks ago. matt hancock announces that care home figures will be included in the daily death toll from the following day; official figures have previously included only hospital data. testing capacity reaches 73,000 per day, although only 43,000 were carried out the previous day. matt hancock announces that testing will be expanded from the following day to include all care home workers, and people (and their family members) with symptoms who must leave home for their job or are aged over 65. at 11am the uk holds a minute's silence to remember key workers who have died from covid-19. 29 april speaking to the house of commons education select committee, gavin williamson, the secretary of state for education says that the reopening of schools will take place in a "phased manner". official figures begin including deaths in care homes and the community, resulting in the number of recorded deaths increasing by 4,419 to 26,097. dominic raab tells the downing street daily briefing the figures have been included retrospectively, and account for care home and community deaths between 2 march and 28 april. in the most recent 24-hour period there have been 765 deaths. 30 april prime minister boris johnson says the uk is "past the peak" of the covid-19 outbreak but that the country must not "risk a second spike", and announces that he will set out "comprehensive plan" for easing the lockdown "next week". he also stresses the importance of keeping down the reproductive rate, which "is going to be absolutely vital to our recovery". captain tom moore celebrates his 100th birthday, and is made an honorary colonel by the queen. his appeal to raise money for the nhs reaches £32m. at 8pm the uk stages its weekly round of applause for nhs staff and key workers. itv announces plans to resume filming live studio-based shows such as britain's got talent and the masked singer, but without the presence of an audience. the british library is to archive hundreds of essays submitted to bbc radio 4's pm programme by listeners detailing their covid-19 experiences. the covid chronicles, launched in march, has seen listeners submit their accounts of their lives during the lockdown restrictions, some of which have been broadcast. 1 may matt hancock confirms the government's target of providing (but not necessarily completing) 100,000 tests a day by the end of april has been met, with 122,347 provided over the previous 24 hours. hancock announces that fertility clinics will be allowed to open again from 11 may. "times like these", a charity single by the live lounge allstars released to raise funds for those affected by the pandemic, reaches number one in the uk singles chart. facebook deletes the account of conspiracy theorist david icke for posting misinformation about the covid-19 pandemic, including claims it is being spread by the 5g network. 2 may robert jenrick announces £76m of funding to help vulnerable people, including children, victims of domestic violence and modern slavery, who may be "trapped in a nightmare" during the lockdown restrictions. youtube becomes the latest social media platform to remove david icke's official account. 3 may in an interview with the sun on sunday, boris johnson speaks about how contingency plans were made for the event of his death while he was in intensive care. an nhs contact tracing app designed to track and prevent the spread of covid-19 will be trialled on the isle of wight during the forthcoming week. 4 may apple and google approve a test version of the nhs tracing app. businessman simon dolan announces that he will seek a court injunction to lift the lockdown in britain. 5 may the number of recorded deaths rises by 693 to 29,427, giving the uk the highest number of covid-19 related deaths in europe. figures from the office for national statistics for the week ending 24 april show 21,997 deaths from all causes registered in england and wales; this is a decrease of 354 from the previous week but still nearly twice the five-year average for the time of year. deaths per week in hospital are falling while those in care homes continue to increase, and for the year to 24 april, 5,890 deaths in care homes involved covid-19. trials of the nhs contact-tracing app start on the isle of wight with the app being made available to healthcare and council workers. nhs nightingale hospital north east, a temporary critical care hospital built near sunderland for covid-19 patients, is officially opened by health secretary matt hancock. the virtual ceremony features tv celebrities ant and dec, football pundit alan shearer and cricketer ben stokes. figures from the society of motor manufacturers and traders (smmt) indicate just 4,321 new cars were registered in april, the lowest monthly number since 1946 and a 97% fall on sales from april 2019; 70% of new cars for the month were company fleet vehicles. airline operator virgin atlantic announces it has shed more than 3,000 jobs and ended operations at gatwick airport as a result of the covid-19 outbreak, as well as withdrawing all their boeing 747 fleet. sir patrick vallance tells the house of commons health select committee earlier testing for covid-19 would have been "beneficial" but would not have prevented the spread of the virus. professor neil ferguson, whose advice led the government to implement the lockdown restrictions, resigns from the scientific advisory group for emergencies after the daily telegraph reports a woman named as his "married lover" visited his home during the restrictions. 6 may at his first prime minister's questions since returning to work boris johnson says he "bitterly regrets" the crisis in care homes and is "working very hard" to tackle it. johnson also pledges to reach a target of 200,000 daily uk covid-19 tests by the end of may. a further 649 deaths take the number of recorded deaths over 30,000, to 30,076. john holland-kaye, the ceo of heathrow airport, tells the transport select committee that the airport is trialling large-scale temperature checks at departure gates. 7 may the government confirms that 400,000 gowns ordered from turkey to protect nhs staff from covid-19 have been impounded, after failing to meet the required safety standards. the bank of england warns that the economy is on course to shrink by 14% in 2020 because of the impact of covid-19, pushing the uk into its deepest recession on record. baroness dido harding, chair of nhs improvement and former ceo of talktalk, is appointed to lead the government's programme of testing and tracing, supported by john newton of public health england. testing will be led by sarah-jane marsh, chief executive of birmingham women's and children's hospitals, and tracing will be led by tom riordan, chief executive of leeds city council. the uk stages another round of applause for nhs staff and key workers, the seventh to be held on consecutive thursdays at 8pm. 8 may the death of a six-week-old baby is reported. with the uk beginning another bank holiday weekend, environment secretary george eustice urges the public to abide by the rules of the lockdown restrictions and warns people have to be "realistic" about the loosening of the measures. 9 may transport secretary grant shapps announces £2bn of investment to improve walking and cycling, describing it as a chance for a "once in a generation change" to the way the public travels. 10 may the uk government updates its covid-19 message from "stay at home, protect the nhs, save lives" to "stay alert, control the virus, save lives". the opposition labour party expresses concern the slogan could be confusing, and leaders of the devolved governments in scotland, wales and northern ireland say they will keep the original slogan. a new alert scale system is announced, ranging from green (level one) to red (level five), similar to the uk's terror threat levels. a recorded address by boris johnson is broadcast at 7pm in which he