Coronavirus

The $20 bill that instigated the arrest of George Floyd and its tragic consequences may not have been a fake – and if it was, Floyd would have never intentionally used counterfeit cash, his roommate claims.  

Floyd’s roommate of four years, Alvin Manago, 55, exclusively told DailyMail.com that Floyd was a stand-up guy and if he did use a counterfiet bill at the store before his death, it was ‘unintentional’.  

‘I’ve never known Floyd to use any counterfeit money. If he tried to pass along a counterfeit $20 bill it was unintentional,’ Manago said. ‘He probably didn’t know the money was fake. 

‘I’m just not sure why the store employees didn’t just tell him it was a fake $20. They all knew him them. He was a regular customer.’

Manago met George Floyd, 46, when they worked together at the Conga Bistro Bar and Grill. Floyd worked security and Manago worked as a bar back. Manago says they had been roommates for almost four years and considers him one of his best friends.

Floyd died last Monday after being killed during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for allegedly trying to use a counterfeit $20 at a local market.  

Cell phone video captured former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for several minutes after he was handcuffed. Floyd died hours later at a local hospital.  

Former police officer Derek Chauvin was arrested last week on a third degree murder and manslaughter charges, but Manago believes this is just the beginning.

‘I want to see all of the officers arrested,’ he said. ‘The other officers protected the situation even after George was unconscious.’

Manago also has issues with the probable cause statement. 

Manago said he wasn’t aware of any pre-existing medical conditions listed in the probable cause statement for Floyd.

The arrest warrant states that ‘the autopsy revealed no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation. Mr. Floyd had underlying health conditions including coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease. The combined effects of Mr. Floyd being restrained by the police, his underlying health conditions and any potential intoxicants in his system likely contributed to his death.’

‘I’ve never known Floyd to take any prescription medication apart from some pain pills on one occasion after he was recently released from the hospital. He never mentioned to me about having any medical problems or high blood pressure,’ said Manago.

Manago also said that Floyd barely drank alcohol.

‘He maybe had a shot or a beer. I’ve never seen him drunk or use drugs,’ he added. 

Choking up, Manago said Floyd was a good guy who had turned his life around. ‘He didn’t deserve to die this way. Floyd needs justice,’ he said. 

‘Floyd would be against the violence and looting. He wouldn’t want people looting and burning buildings in his name. He didn’t promote violence,’ said Manago.

‘He’d be disgusted with what’s going on in the country. I don’t want the looting and rioting attached to his name, he wouldn’t want that.

‘Floyd needs justice. Floyd didn’t deserve to die that way he did.’

Manago also says that Floyd had been exposed to someone who lived with them who had tested positive two months ago for COVID-19. However, he does not believe it had anything to do with his death. 

‘He went to the hospital a few months ago, he was sluggish, throwing up and had diarrhea and complaining of stomach pain. He spent a few days in the hospital and then came back home,’ said Manago.

At about the same time, Manago’s fiancée tested positive for COVID-19. Manago says that he was also tested but the results came back inconclusive. He wasn’t sure if Floyd was ever tested for the virus but said he displayed all of the symptoms of having it.

Manago said, ‘The health care workers told me that there was no reason to come back for another test since we lived with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus and have been exposed to it. So we should just treat it like we have it and self-quarantine.’ 

After Floyd was discharged from the hospital he came home and rested. Manago said he never found out exactly why Floyd spent time in the hospital, but is convinced they both had coronavirus.

As DailyMail.com exclusively revealed, Chauvin has been moved to one of the nation’s most secure prison to ‘ensure he’s not murdered behind bars’ according to law enforcement sources.

Chauvin was arrested last Friday and housed in the Ramsey County Jail in nearby St. Paul, Minnesota. On Sunday afternoon, he was transferred to the Hennepin County Jail in Minneapolis, then hours later transferred yet again to a correctional facility in Oak Heights, Minnesota –  the state’s only Level 5 maximum security prison.

Commissioner of Corrections Paul Schnell said Chauvin was moved to prison because of concerns about coronavirus and the huge influx of people being booked into Twin Cities jails on public order offenses.

‘First and foremost, we have a COVID situation. Second of all, a large number of people could be booked into Hennepin County Jail,’ Schnell said.

It’s highly unusual to lock defendants up in prison before they have been convicted, however officials did something similar in the case of disgraced Minneapolis officer Mohamed Noor who shot dead a woman in 2017 while responding to her 911 call.

‘The move to DOC custody was made out of an abundance of caution to ensure he is safely held and after concern about space in the jail due to large numbers of arrests related to the unrest over the last few nights,’ a spokesman said.

‘The DOC also took custody of former officer Mohamed Noor during the time he was in custody before being officially committed to our custody at sentencing, after a similar request in that case.

‘The processing of his [Chauvin’s] transfer to OPH, including the taking of photos, in being completed this morning. He will appear, with official photos, on the public database of inmates after that process is completed.

‘He is being held in administrative segregation outside the general population of the facility.’

Administrative segregation, a form of solitary confinement known as ‘in the hole’, is employed when inmates are deemed to be at grave risk of being attacked by other prisoners or because they pose a significant danger to others.

According to recent data released by the Minnesota Department of Corrections, the Oak Park Heights Prison currently houses 297 murderers, 69 sexual predators and eight kidnappers.

Some 46 percent of the prison population is black.

The 160-acre, rural prison is carved into the side of a hill and has been featured on the National Geographic show America’s Hardest Prisons.

Cells are 7 by 10 feet with cement slab bed and toilets and sink made of steel so they can’t be broken off to use as weapons.

The reinforced windows are said to be so secure that it would take 12,000 hacksaw blades to cut though the steel bars.

Chauvin will be held at the prison until next Monday, June 8th where he is scheduled to appear in a downtown Minneapolis courtroom for the first time since his arrest.

Priti Patel insisted 14-day quarantine for UK arrivals is ‘essential to save lives’ today but admitted it will hit businesses hard – and confirmed ‘travel corridors’ are being considered to low-infection countries.

The Home Secretary defied a huge Tory revolt to tell MPs the blanket rule will come into force from Monday, with the next review new due to happen until the end of the month.

With only very limited exceptions for lorry drivers and NHS workers, everyone coming to the country by plane, rail or sea will be ordered to give an address and self-isolate for two weeks, with spot checks from officials. 

While she was adamant the clampdown was ‘proportionate’ to ensure coronavirus did not spike again, Ms Patel did raise hopes by saying the government is looking at ‘international travel corridors’ to low infection countries in the future. 

But she was assailed by a slew of Conservatives, with former minister Theresa Villiers urging her to act to ‘save jobs in aviation and let families go on holidays in the sun’. 

Ex-trade secretary Liam Fox said the government’s policy contortions resembled ‘gymnastics’, and the focus should be on test and trace rather than ‘unnecessary economic isolation’. 

Ryanair branded the system ‘utterly ineffective’ saying because spot checks are carried out on the phone people could trick officials even if they were out playing golf or on the beach.  

Ms Patel said: ‘Currently, there should only be essential travel, but across Government and with the sector we continue to explore all options for future safe travel. Any international approaches will be bilateral and agreed with the other countries concerned,’ she said. 

‘We need to ensure that those countries are deemed to be safe. We are not alone in our fight against this disease, or in the measures we have taken to stop it.’ 

Boris Johnson and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps are among ministers who have been pushing the idea behind the scenes – with Portugal this morning becoming the latest holiday destination to suggest it wants a deal in place soon.

The review criteria for the quarantine include international infection rates, what controls other countries have in place and whether ‘antibody and other testing methodologies’ can help minimise the health risk. 

Despite the resistance from business and Conservative MPs, Ms Patel was boosted today by a poll suggesting the public overwhelmingly supports the restrictions. The YouGov research found 63 per cent in favour of applying the rule broadly, while 24 per cent said it should only cover countries with high infection rates. Just 4 per cent did not think there should be any quarantine.   

In other news today as the coronavirus crisis rages on:

• Leaked figures showed the new track-and-trace system identified only half of contacts in its first three days;
• Labour’s Keir Starmer has torn into Boris Johnson for ‘winging it’ by loosening lockdown, saying the PM had an ‘exit but not a strategy’;
• The children’s commissioner for England has warned that some vulnerable children might never return to school after lockdown, and ‘immense’ damage is being done to their prospects;
• Wales has announced that schools are going to start reopening from June 29, but only for around a third of pupils; 
• There have now been more deaths related to Covid-19 in Scottish care homes than in hospitals north of the border, according to latest figures; 
• A study suggested that most prospective students want the start of the academic year delayed in order to secure more face-to-face teaching at university;
• Mr Johnson has insisted ‘black lives matter’ and condemned the ‘inexcusable’ death of George Floyd but refused to criticise Donald Trumps’ response to protests; 

Portugal’s foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva revealed this morning that his country is in discussions with the UK about forming an air bridge so tourists can avoid being quarantined, telling the BBC that ‘quarantine is an enemy of tourism’. 

He added: ‘During these weeks our diplomats will work together in order to guarantee that British tourists coming to Portugal would not be subjected on their return to England to any kind of quarantine.’

Germany will lift a travel ban for European Union member states plus Britain, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland from 15 June as long as there are no entry bans or large-scale lockdowns in those countries, the foreign minister said.

But Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Germans would be urged not to travel to the UK while 14-day quarantine is in place.

Ms Patel told the Commons that the government was ‘taking a proportionate and time-limited approach to protect the health of the British people’.

She said arrivals will be required to fill in a ‘contact locator form’, including details on where they will isolate and how they can be contacted.

She said: ‘The form must be completed in advance of travel to provide details of the journey and Border Force will be at the front line of enforcing this requirement.

‘Passengers require a receipt, either printed or on their phone, to prove they have completed the form.

‘Border Force will undertake spot checks at the border and may refuse entry to non-resident nationals who refuse to comply. They will have the power to impose a £100 fixed penalty notice to those who don’t comply.’

Ms Patel said the data collected will be used by Public Health England, which will undertake checks to ensure people understand and follow the rules, adding: ‘If Public Health England has reason to believe someone is not following the law as they should be, they will inform the police.’

A breach of self-isolation could result in a £1,000 fixed penalty notice in England, or potential prosecution, Ms Patel added.

Labour’s shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds called for the Government to be clear on the scientific advice surrounding its plans to introduce a quarantine for overseas arrivals. 

He said: ‘If these measures are necessary from June 8, why have they not been necessary in recent weeks or from when they were first announced by the Home Secretary herself on May 22? 

‘And can the Home Secretary give me her assurance these measures from Monday next week have been recommended and approved by SAGE?’ 

Senior Tory Dr Fox said: I’m afraid I simply cannot get my head around the public health mental gymnastics of this policy.

‘If such a barrier was required, why was it not introduced earlier in the outbreak.

‘And if it is a contingency measure against a second wave, why apply it to countries with a lower infection rate than we already have.

‘Surely the answer lies in the government’s test-and-trace system, rather than unnecessary economic isolation.’ 

The 14-day quarantine scheme will be reviewed on June 29 to see whether low case numbers in some destinations might allow the measures to be relaxed on a country-by-country basis. 

A Downing Street source said: ‘We will be guided by the science, but the PM does not want to be standing in the way of people’s holidays unnecessarily.’ 

Health minister Edward Argar said earlier that he hoped people would be able to go on holiday this year.

He told Today: ‘I’m not going to say a particular date on when that might happen because we will have to be guided by how the disease behaves, controlling any risk of a second wave and controlling the disease.

‘I hope that people will be able to go on holiday at some point this year, but I can’t make that promise and because I have to be cautious and go with the science and I don’t have that forward view yet of how a second wave or otherwise might behave.’

Heathrow chief John Holland Kaye warned there was a danger of the ‘health pandemic becoming an unemployment pandemic’. 

He said there had to be an ‘exit plan’ from the quarantine plan to avert huge redundancies. 

‘If we don’t get a plan from the Government in the next few days on how we are going to reopen the economy, those jobs are at risk,’ he said.

‘I am going to have to make that decision in the next few weeks about jobs in my own company.

‘We need to stop this health pandemic becoming an unemployment pandemic.’

In a glimmer of hope for airlines, it has emerged that commercial flights will resume at London City Airport by the end of June.

Domestic routes will be the first to restart, with international flights ‘depending on the proposed quarantine of passengers arriving into the UK’, according to a statement.

London City’s runway has been closed to commercial and private flights since March 25 due to travel restrictions and the collapse in demand.

Leading travel operators still fear they will have to lay off 60 per cent of their staff, however. 

And the London Chambers of Commerce warned today that the policy sends out the message that the UK is ‘closed for business’.

Chief executive Paul Scully said: ‘Domestically, the Government’s roadmap to restarting the economy is correctly centred on a risk-based approach. 

‘Yet this blanket aviation proposal doesn’t appear to be risk-based. 

‘If it was, it would recognise that arrivals from some countries with much lower transmission levels than the UK and low incidence of the disease would not increase our risk, provided they adopted our social distancing protocols on arrival. 

‘The proposal sends out the message that the UK is closed for business, at a time when we are beginning to restart our economy.’ 

The news came as it emerged that nearly every country popular with Britons as a summer holiday destination has a lower coronavirus infection rate than the UK. 

The UK currently has more cases of coronavirus per million people than most of the 15 most popular holiday destinations for Britons. 

Only the US and Portugal have a higher infection rate with places like France, Spain, Greece and Italy all drastically lower than Britain. 

The data is sure to fuel the anger of opponents of the quarantine, after some 124 chief executive and owners of businesses worth a combined £5billion said they expect to make up to 60 per cent of their staff redundant if the scheme goes ahead.

Details of the quarantine scheme, which is due to come into force on Monday June 8, were expected to be revealed to MPs yesterday. 

But Downing Street confirmed that Home Secretary Priti Patel is now expected to unveil them later today, fuelling suggestions that some sort of compromise could be on the cards. 

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said yesterday he was growing ‘more optimistic’ about the prospect of Britons taking holidays abroad this year.  

Ms Patel will face rebellious Conservative MPs in the Commons later, warning them that opposition to the quarantine plan risk alienating the public and throwing away the country’s progress in tackling coronavirus. 

The 14-day quarantine scheme will be reviewed on June 29 to see whether low case numbers in some destinations might allow the measures to be relaxed on a country-by-country basis.

Leading travel operators still fear they will have to lay off 60 per cent of their staff however.  

Mr Johnson has been told to drops the plans to force visitors and returning British nationals to self-isolate for 14 days to avoid a ‘catastrophic’ hammer blow to the tourism and hospitality industries. 

MPs have also branded the curbs ‘ridiculous’ and ‘pointless’ after it emerged people will be allowed to pop out for food, only a fifth face spot checks, and officials will not be allowed to enter their homes.     

Under that plan, agreements between Britain and countries with low infection rates would allow people from those nations to visit the UK without self-isolating. 

Asked about the government’s policy in the evening Downing Street press briefing, Mr Hancock hinted at friction within the cabinet: ‘This air bridge idea has been floated. 

‘I know there has been a lot of discussion about it and I know that some countries have been mentioned in the media but that is a piece of work that is being done by the Home office and the DfT and I’m not going to tread on the toes of my colleagues no matter how tempting it is.’

The Health Secretary also said that all measures taken by the government, including those related to travellers, were taken with people’s safety as the key consideration.  

The new quarantine rules will allow people subject to the 14-day restrictions to leave their place of isolation for a number of reasons, including shopping for food. 

Travellers will also be able to board public transport from the port or airport to where they will quarantine, although they will be encouraged to use private vehicles instead. 

But the rules will only be in place for an initial three weeks, with the first review on June 29. 

Campaigner George Morgan-Grenville, the chief executive of tour operator Red Savannah, said: ‘By pursuing its quarantine plans without due regard for the economic consequences, the Government is choosing to ignore the devastation it will cause to companies, to employment and to the lives of all those whose jobs will be lost.

‘The quarantine measures are a blunt weapon which will bring only economic disaster.’

Ministers are also facing a major Tory rebellion over the issue.  

Whitehall sources said the quarantine plan had been championed by the PM’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings. 

But Mr Johnson is said to have been taken aback by the scale of opposition from within his own party.

Meanwhile, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said travellers should not face quarantine unless arriving from a country with a higher infection rate than the UK’s.

A Government spokesman said: ‘Our priority will always be to protect the public’s health and these new measures are being introduced to do exactly this. We have received clear science advice and the quarantine system is designed to keep the transmission rate down, stop new cases being brought in from abroad and help prevent a devastating second wave of coronavirus.

‘We are supporting businesses in the tourism sector through one of the most generous economic packages provided anywhere in the world and we will continue to look at options to increase international travel, when it is safe to do so, as we move forward.’ 

The rules are due to take effect on Monday, but a there are growing signs the measures will be scaled back again when they are reviewed in three weeks. 

The air bridges plan, championed by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, could see restrictions eased on countries like Australia and Greece with low levels of coronavirus. 

It offers some hopes of summer holidays for Britons as the nation struggles to get back to normal after months of lockdown. 

Ministers are expected to use a five-point assessment to judge which countries could be prioritised for the agreements. 

The criteria could include the economic and cultural ties to the UK, the infection rate and the level of health screening at departure airports.  

A country’s R rate of infection is likely to be the key factor in whether an air bridge agreement is considered.   

The news comes as MPs urged the government to rethink the 14-day quarantine to avoid killing off the airline industry.    

Tory MP Henry Smith, whose Crawley constituency covers Gatwick, said low passengers at the airport last week highlighted the scale of the problem.   

He said: ‘It’s well-intentioned but it hasn’t been thought through.

‘It sounds good, to stop people at the borders so we don’t get re-infections of Covid-19. But I don’t think it is going to be a benefit to public health and will prolong the economic damage.’

Travel industry experts say quarantine, will cost Britain’s tourism sector as much as £15billion if it is maintained throughout the summer.

Under the plans, people arriving in the UK from Britain, including citizens returning from abroad, will have to self-isolate for two weeks. 

There are exemptions for groups including lorry drivers, health workers and scientists. 

Spot checks will be carried out on addresses and fines of £1,000 could be imposed on people breaking the rules.

But according to the Guardian, only a fifth of arrivals will be subject to spot checks. 

People will be able to give more than one address where they will be self-isolating – and will also be allowed to go out to buy food – including for pets – or medicine.

‘To get caught, you will either have to be unlucky or stupid,’ one source said.  

Like the wider lockdown measures, the plans will be reviewed every three weeks.

Former transport minister Stephen Hammond asked what the point of the quarantine was when it could be dodged relatively easily.

The Tory MP told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that air bridges would be a ‘sensible, targeted response’ between low-risk countries.

‘I think the idea of air bridges are the right way forward,’ he added.

‘I think, as we’ve seen across the world, people are taking measures out of the lockdown and this targeted approach would be a much more sensible way to behave.’

The air bridges idea was first floated by Mr Shapps last month, before being played down by No10 sources.

However, sources told the Telegraph that Mr Johnson is now ‘personally in favour’ of the plan. 

Priti Patel, the home secretary, is thought to remain sceptical. 

Travel companies are offering up to 65 per cent off summer holidays – but tourism experts are warning Britons the trips may not end up going ahead.

The bargain packages are being advertised on booking sites for as early as July in a bid to salvage the season.

It came as last night the holiday dreams of millions of Britons were given a boost after Portugal and Greece said they were ready to welcome back UK tourists within days.

Tui, Britain’s biggest tour operator, is cutting three nights all-inclusive at the TUI SUNEO Odessos in Bulgaria on July 10 from £543 per person to £296. And a seven-night trip to Gran Canaria on July 6 has been slashed from £606 to £394.

Travel Zoo is offering two nights in Paris in September for £79 – up to 64 per cent cheaper than usual.

And easyJet Holidays is selling a week-long stay at Anseli Hotel in Rhodes from July 8 for £195 with flights and transfers.

But experts have warned desperate Britons to hold off booking for now.

The Foreign Office still advises against all but essential travel and there will be a two-week quarantine for returning holidaymakers from June 8.

Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: ‘If consumers are keen to book something now they should go into it with their eyes open.

‘If the FCO advice is still in place when their holiday is due to take place, they will get a refund, but there’s a good chance they will be waiting a long time.

‘Holiday providers need to make it clear to their customers that these holidays may not take place.’

The UK quarantine will be reviewed every three weeks. TUI spokesman Liz Edwards said they hope it will be lifted on June 29 in time for summer trips.

She added: ‘We believe we will be having summer holidays this year, hopefully from July. We hope the quarantine will be lifted, but air bridges are certainly a possibility.

‘Bookings have been really picking up. Spain, Greece, Cyprus are likely to open up first. The Canaries and Balearics are keen to welcome back tourists.’

Airlines are also heavily discounting flights. A Heathrow to Cancun return with Air France in September, which usually sells for around £800, is being advertised for £312.

And return flights from Manchester to Reykjavik with easyJet in November are being sold for £41 (usually £150 plus), and Manchester to Dubrovnik with Jet2 from £30 one-way in late June (usually around £120).

Emma Coulthurst, from TravelSupermarket, said: ‘The 14-day quarantine measure makes holidays pretty impractical, although I have heard of some people willing to do it to get a holiday. There is a risk booking now as there is no guarantee the holiday will go ahead.’

Research by TUI revealed the most popular destinations for trips this year are Spain, Greece and Italy followed by Florida and the Caribbean.

And those hoping to go to Greece or Portugal this summer could still get the chance.

Officials in Lisbon believe Britain has coronavirus ‘under control’ and want quarantine-free travel between the two countries to restart from this Saturday.

Greece’s tourism minister Harry Theocharis told the Mail the epidemic was moving ‘in the right direction’ in the UK and restrictions could be dropped for Britons from June 15.

The interventions increased pressure on Downing Street to re-think its plan for a ‘blanket’ 14-day quarantine amid a growing backlash from MPs at being denied a vote on the measures.

Ms Patel will now introduce the regulations in Parliament to come into effect from next Monday.

But they will be brought as a statutory instrument, which does not automatically go to a vote. Tory MPs are expecting the government to give a strong signal on air bridges to head off an outright rebellion.

Under the plans, anyone entering the country by plane, train or boat will have to go into quarantine for two weeks.

This will apply to foreign tourists as well as Britons returning from abroad.

However, some people, including medical professionals and lorry drivers, will be exempt.

MPs among a cross-party group of at least 40 who are critical of the plans last night voiced their fury.

They want the Government to leave open the option of creating ‘air bridges’ – which would allow tourists between two countries to visit without needing to quarantine – to salvage as much of the summer holiday season as possible and help keep the hard-hit tourism industry afloat.

They say, instead of quarantine, arrivals to the UK could be subject to health checks or testing.

Industry chiefs say millions of Britons are desperate for a foreign getaway, but the blanket quarantine policy has all but cancelled summer holidays.

Former Cabinet minister David Davis said: ‘Parliament should be properly involved and quite plainly it is not. In this particular case, its very blanket policy could reasonably be amended in a number of ways. 

‘For example, our death rate is many, many times than that in Greece. So the idea of quarantining someone coming from Greece who would have a much lower risk of suffering from the disease than someone anywhere else in Britain is plainly not supported by any sort of science.

‘The idea of putting in air bridges might be a sensible amendment.’

Former environment secretary Theresa Villiers said: ‘I would very much prefer the quarantine rules be targeted on flights from Covid hotspots.

‘I appreciate why the Government is bringing in quarantine but I do think that applying it in a blanket way across the board is an over-reaction.’

Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, said: ‘I hope the Government will move swiftly to introduce air bridges and also to introduce a testing regime at airports as quickly as possible.’

Downing Street last night insisted it still intended to push ahead with the policy.

It has stressed quarantine will be reviewed every three weeks and has left open the possibility of striking air bridge deals in future.

But the first review period would not be until June 29. 

It comes as a leading expert predicted today that Britain is on track to have zero Covid-19 deaths by July – as health chiefs announced 324 more coronavirus fatalities. 

Professor Carl Heneghan, an Oxford University epidemiologist, expects no ‘excess deaths’ when weekly data taking into account suspected and confirmed deaths is published next Tuesday.  

The weekly death toll in England and Wales dropped to its lowest levels since the lockdown began, an Office for National Statistics (ONS) report said today. A total of 1,983 people in England and Wales died with Covid-19 in the week ending May 22, down almost 30 per cent in a week and the lowest figure for two months.  

Both England and Wales – which suffered 16,000 deaths during the darkest fortnight of the crisis in April – are now en route to the way they were before the unprecedented lockdown was imposed on March 23.  

But sobering statistics also show that there have now been nearly 50,000 people killed by Covid-19 across the UK this year, cementing Britain’s position as one of the worst-hit countries in the world. And other estimates looking at ‘excess deaths’ – deemed the most reliable measure to work out the true scale of an infectious disease outbreak – show 62,000 more fatalities were recorded during the pandemic than expected.

It comes as the UK Government this week starts to move the nation out of lockdown and back to work and school as the number of new deaths and cases continue to tumble. 

Department of Health figures today revealed the official death toll has jumped to 39,369 – an increase of 324 on yesterday. For comparison, 111 fatalities were registered yesterday, as well as 134 last Tuesday – a figure much lower than expected due to a recording lag on the bank holiday Monday.  

At this evening’s press Downing Street press conference, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the trend for daily infections is ‘broadly down but there is still some way to go’, as the total number of positive tests neared 278,000. 

Mr Hancock said the number of new admissions for Covid-19 in England has fallen to the lowest since March 20, and demonstrates progress against the disease. Daily admissions are down seven per cent since last Tuesday.  

The Department of Health revealed 324 more people had died across all settings. 

Each nation’s health agency reported their own figures earlier today – including 12 in Scotland, seven in Wales and two in Northern Ireland. These figures do not always match with the DH count because of a difference in how they are recorded.

Today’s official Government figure, which brings the total closer to 40,000, is 68 per cent lower than the Tuesday a fortnight ago, when 545 deaths were recorded following a lag in reporting over the bank holiday. 

Processes for recording people’s deaths are known for slowing down and even stopping at the weekends and on bank holidays, meaning there is a dip every Monday, followed by surges on Tuesdays.   

The weekly report from ONS said there were 12,288 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending May 22, known as ‘Week 21’.

This was 2,285 less than the previous week – but still 2,348 more than usual for this time of year.

Professor Heneghan, director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, University of Oxford said he expects deaths to be back to normal by next week. 

Asked during a Science Media Centre briefing whether he expects deaths from Covid-19 to stop or plateau, Professor Heneghan said: ‘If the trends continue, the deaths look like they will be back to where they should be normally by next week.

‘There’s been a continued reduction in hospital deaths, care home outbreaks are coming down so the ‘all deaths’ by (week) 22 I’m expecting will be back to where we should be.’

Professor Heneghan said there may be no Covid-19 deaths by the end of June – which would follow Spain yesterday. Italy is still reporting between 50 and 100 deaths per day, and France around 30.

‘But it also depends on what happens next, within sporadic outbreaks,’ Professor Heneghan said.

He warned that there will be spikes in deaths with further outbreaks in care homes, and said information on how many people are catching the virus in hospital would ‘give us a really good understanding of the spreading of this disease’.

Professor Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at The Open University, said: ‘I certainly don’t want to be a prophet of gloom, but I would urge some caution about these positive trends. 

‘The new week’s data would not yet have been affected by the loosening of the lockdown. That began to happen in the previous week (ending 15 May), though most changes occurred much more recently.

‘If any of the changes turn out to have increased infections, that won’t show up in death statistics yet anyway, because obviously there is a time gap between infection and death. But we’ll see eventually.’ 

Priti Patel insisted 14-day quarantine for UK arrivals is ‘essential to save lives’ today but admitted it will hit businesses hard – and confirmed ‘travel corridors’ are being considered to low-infection countries.

The Home Secretary defied a huge Tory revolt to tell MPs the blanket rule will come into force from Monday, with the next review new due to happen until the end of the month.

With only very limited exceptions for lorry drivers and NHS workers, everyone coming to the country by plane, rail or sea will be ordered to give an address and self-isolate for two weeks, with spot checks from officials. 

While she was adamant the clampdown was ‘proportionate’ to ensure coronavirus did not spike again, Ms Patel did raise hopes by saying the government is looking at ‘international travel corridors’ to low infection countries in the future. 

But she was assailed by a slew of Conservatives, with former minister Theresa Villiers urging her to act to ‘save jobs in aviation and let families go on holidays in the sun’.

Ex-trade secretary Liam Fox said the government’s policy contortions resembled ‘gymnastics’, and the focus should be on test and trace rather than ‘unnecessary economic isolation’.   

Ms Patel said: ‘Currently, there should only be essential travel, but across Government and with the sector we continue to explore all options for future safe travel. Any international approaches will be bilateral and agreed with the other countries concerned,’ she said. 

‘We need to ensure that those countries are deemed to be safe. We are not alone in our fight against this disease, or in the measures we have taken to stop it.’ 

Boris Johnson and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps are among ministers who have been pushing the idea behind the scenes – with Portugal this morning becoming the latest holiday destination to suggest it wants a deal in place soon.

The review criteria for the quarantine include international infection rates, what controls other countries have in place and whether ‘antibody and other testing methodologies’ can help minimise the health risk. 

Despite the resistance from business and Conservative MPs, Ms Patel was boosted today by a poll suggesting the public overwhelmingly supports the restrictions. The YouGov research found 63 per cent in favour of applying the rule broadly, while 24 per cent said it should only cover countries with high infection rates. Just 4 per cent did not think there should be any quarantine.   

In other news today as the coronavirus crisis rages on:

• Leaked figures showed the new track-and-trace system identified only half of contacts in its first three days;
• Labour’s Keir Starmer has torn into Boris Johnson for ‘winging it’ by loosening lockdown, saying the PM had an ‘exit but not a strategy’;
• The children’s commissioner for England has warned that some vulnerable children might never return to school after lockdown, and ‘immense’ damage is being done to their prospects;
• Wales has announced that schools are going to start reopening from June 29, but only for around a third of pupils; 
• There have now been more deaths related to Covid-19 in Scottish care homes than in hospitals north of the border, according to latest figures; 
• A study suggested that most prospective students want the start of the academic year delayed in order to secure more face-to-face teaching at university;
• Mr Johnson has insisted ‘black lives matter’ and condemned the ‘inexcusable’ death of George Floyd but refused to criticise Donald Trumps’ response to protests; 

Portugal’s foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva revealed this morning that his country is in discussions with the UK about forming an air bridge so tourists can avoid being quarantined, telling the BBC that ‘quarantine is an enemy of tourism’. 

He added: ‘During these weeks our diplomats will work together in order to guarantee that British tourists coming to Portugal would not be subjected on their return to England to any kind of quarantine.’

Germany will lift a travel ban for European Union member states plus Britain, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland from 15 June as long as there are no entry bans or large-scale lockdowns in those countries, the foreign minister said.

But Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Germans would be urged not to travel to the UK while 14-day quarantine is in place.

Ms Patel told the Commons that the government was ‘taking a proportionate and time-limited approach to protect the health of the British people’.

She said arrivals will be required to fill in a ‘contact locator form’, including details on where they will isolate and how they can be contacted.

She said: ‘The form must be completed in advance of travel to provide details of the journey and Border Force will be at the front line of enforcing this requirement.

‘Passengers require a receipt, either printed or on their phone, to prove they have completed the form.

‘Border Force will undertake spot checks at the border and may refuse entry to non-resident nationals who refuse to comply. They will have the power to impose a £100 fixed penalty notice to those who don’t comply.’

Ms Patel said the data collected will be used by Public Health England, which will undertake checks to ensure people understand and follow the rules, adding: ‘If Public Health England has reason to believe someone is not following the law as they should be, they will inform the police.’

A breach of self-isolation could result in a £1,000 fixed penalty notice in England, or potential prosecution, Ms Patel added.

Labour’s shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds called for the Government to be clear on the scientific advice surrounding its plans to introduce a quarantine for overseas arrivals. 

He said: ‘If these measures are necessary from June 8, why have they not been necessary in recent weeks or from when they were first announced by the Home Secretary herself on May 22? 

‘And can the Home Secretary give me her assurance these measures from Monday next week have been recommended and approved by SAGE?’ 

Senior Tory Dr Fox said: I’m afraid I simply cannot get my head around the public health mental gymnastics of this policy.

‘If such a barrier was required, why was it not introduced earlier in the outbreak.

‘And if it is a contingency measure against a second wave, why apply it to countries with a lower infection rate than we already have.

‘Surely the answer lies in the government’s test-and-trace system, rather than unnecessary economic isolation.’ 

The 14-day quarantine scheme will be reviewed on June 29 to see whether low case numbers in some destinations might allow the measures to be relaxed on a country-by-country basis. 

A Downing Street source said: ‘We will be guided by the science, but the PM does not want to be standing in the way of people’s holidays unnecessarily.’ 

Health minister Edward Argar said earlier that he hoped people would be able to go on holiday this year.

He told Today: ‘I’m not going to say a particular date on when that might happen because we will have to be guided by how the disease behaves, controlling any risk of a second wave and controlling the disease.

‘I hope that people will be able to go on holiday at some point this year, but I can’t make that promise and because I have to be cautious and go with the science and I don’t have that forward view yet of how a second wave or otherwise might behave.’

Heathrow chief John Holland Kaye warned there was a danger of the ‘health pandemic becoming an unemployment pandemic’. 

He said there had to be an ‘exit plan’ from the quarantine plan to avert huge redundancies. 

‘If we don’t get a plan from the Government in the next few days on how we are going to reopen the economy, those jobs are at risk,’ he said.

‘I am going to have to make that decision in the next few weeks about jobs in my own company.

‘We need to stop this health pandemic becoming an unemployment pandemic.’

In a glimmer of hope for airlines, it has emerged that commercial flights will resume at London City Airport by the end of June.

Domestic routes will be the first to restart, with international flights ‘depending on the proposed quarantine of passengers arriving into the UK’, according to a statement.

London City’s runway has been closed to commercial and private flights since March 25 due to travel restrictions and the collapse in demand.

Leading travel operators still fear they will have to lay off 60 per cent of their staff, however. 

And the London Chambers of Commerce warned today that the policy sends out the message that the UK is ‘closed for business’.

Chief executive Paul Scully said: ‘Domestically, the Government’s roadmap to restarting the economy is correctly centred on a risk-based approach. 

‘Yet this blanket aviation proposal doesn’t appear to be risk-based. 

‘If it was, it would recognise that arrivals from some countries with much lower transmission levels than the UK and low incidence of the disease would not increase our risk, provided they adopted our social distancing protocols on arrival. 

‘The proposal sends out the message that the UK is closed for business, at a time when we are beginning to restart our economy.’ 

The news came as it emerged that nearly every country popular with Britons as a summer holiday destination has a lower coronavirus infection rate than the UK. 

The UK currently has more cases of coronavirus per million people than most of the 15 most popular holiday destinations for Britons. 

Only the US and Portugal have a higher infection rate with places like France, Spain, Greece and Italy all drastically lower than Britain. 

The data is sure to fuel the anger of opponents of the quarantine, after some 124 chief executive and owners of businesses worth a combined £5billion said they expect to make up to 60 per cent of their staff redundant if the scheme goes ahead.

Details of the quarantine scheme, which is due to come into force on Monday June 8, were expected to be revealed to MPs yesterday. 

But Downing Street confirmed that Home Secretary Priti Patel is now expected to unveil them later today, fuelling suggestions that some sort of compromise could be on the cards. 

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said yesterday he was growing ‘more optimistic’ about the prospect of Britons taking holidays abroad this year.  

Ms Patel will face rebellious Conservative MPs in the Commons later, warning them that opposition to the quarantine plan risk alienating the public and throwing away the country’s progress in tackling coronavirus. 

The 14-day quarantine scheme will be reviewed on June 29 to see whether low case numbers in some destinations might allow the measures to be relaxed on a country-by-country basis.

Leading travel operators still fear they will have to lay off 60 per cent of their staff however.  

Mr Johnson has been told to drops the plans to force visitors and returning British nationals to self-isolate for 14 days to avoid a ‘catastrophic’ hammer blow to the tourism and hospitality industries. 

MPs have also branded the curbs ‘ridiculous’ and ‘pointless’ after it emerged people will be allowed to pop out for food, only a fifth face spot checks, and officials will not be allowed to enter their homes.     

Under that plan, agreements between Britain and countries with low infection rates would allow people from those nations to visit the UK without self-isolating. 

Asked about the government’s policy in the evening Downing Street press briefing, Mr Hancock hinted at friction within the cabinet: ‘This air bridge idea has been floated. 

‘I know there has been a lot of discussion about it and I know that some countries have been mentioned in the media but that is a piece of work that is being done by the Home office and the DfT and I’m not going to tread on the toes of my colleagues no matter how tempting it is.’

The Health Secretary also said that all measures taken by the government, including those related to travellers, were taken with people’s safety as the key consideration.  

The new quarantine rules will allow people subject to the 14-day restrictions to leave their place of isolation for a number of reasons, including shopping for food. 

Travellers will also be able to board public transport from the port or airport to where they will quarantine, although they will be encouraged to use private vehicles instead. 

But the rules will only be in place for an initial three weeks, with the first review on June 29. 

Campaigner George Morgan-Grenville, the chief executive of tour operator Red Savannah, said: ‘By pursuing its quarantine plans without due regard for the economic consequences, the Government is choosing to ignore the devastation it will cause to companies, to employment and to the lives of all those whose jobs will be lost.

‘The quarantine measures are a blunt weapon which will bring only economic disaster.’

Ministers are also facing a major Tory rebellion over the issue.  

Whitehall sources said the quarantine plan had been championed by the PM’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings. 

But Mr Johnson is said to have been taken aback by the scale of opposition from within his own party.

Meanwhile, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said travellers should not face quarantine unless arriving from a country with a higher infection rate than the UK’s.

A Government spokesman said: ‘Our priority will always be to protect the public’s health and these new measures are being introduced to do exactly this. We have received clear science advice and the quarantine system is designed to keep the transmission rate down, stop new cases being brought in from abroad and help prevent a devastating second wave of coronavirus.

‘We are supporting businesses in the tourism sector through one of the most generous economic packages provided anywhere in the world and we will continue to look at options to increase international travel, when it is safe to do so, as we move forward.’ 

The rules are due to take effect on Monday, but a there are growing signs the measures will be scaled back again when they are reviewed in three weeks. 

The air bridges plan, championed by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, could see restrictions eased on countries like Australia and Greece with low levels of coronavirus. 

It offers some hopes of summer holidays for Britons as the nation struggles to get back to normal after months of lockdown. 

Ministers are expected to use a five-point assessment to judge which countries could be prioritised for the agreements. 

The criteria could include the economic and cultural ties to the UK, the infection rate and the level of health screening at departure airports.  

A country’s R rate of infection is likely to be the key factor in whether an air bridge agreement is considered.   

The news comes as MPs urged the government to rethink the 14-day quarantine to avoid killing off the airline industry.    

Tory MP Henry Smith, whose Crawley constituency covers Gatwick, said low passengers at the airport last week highlighted the scale of the problem.   

He said: ‘It’s well-intentioned but it hasn’t been thought through.

‘It sounds good, to stop people at the borders so we don’t get re-infections of Covid-19. But I don’t think it is going to be a benefit to public health and will prolong the economic damage.’

Travel industry experts say quarantine, will cost Britain’s tourism sector as much as £15billion if it is maintained throughout the summer.

Under the plans, people arriving in the UK from Britain, including citizens returning from abroad, will have to self-isolate for two weeks. 

There are exemptions for groups including lorry drivers, health workers and scientists. 

Spot checks will be carried out on addresses and fines of £1,000 could be imposed on people breaking the rules.

But according to the Guardian, only a fifth of arrivals will be subject to spot checks. 

People will be able to give more than one address where they will be self-isolating – and will also be allowed to go out to buy food – including for pets – or medicine.

‘To get caught, you will either have to be unlucky or stupid,’ one source said.  

Like the wider lockdown measures, the plans will be reviewed every three weeks.

Former transport minister Stephen Hammond asked what the point of the quarantine was when it could be dodged relatively easily.

The Tory MP told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that air bridges would be a ‘sensible, targeted response’ between low-risk countries.

‘I think the idea of air bridges are the right way forward,’ he added.

‘I think, as we’ve seen across the world, people are taking measures out of the lockdown and this targeted approach would be a much more sensible way to behave.’

The air bridges idea was first floated by Mr Shapps last month, before being played down by No10 sources.

However, sources told the Telegraph that Mr Johnson is now ‘personally in favour’ of the plan. 

Priti Patel, the home secretary, is thought to remain sceptical. 

Travel companies are offering up to 65 per cent off summer holidays – but tourism experts are warning Britons the trips may not end up going ahead.

The bargain packages are being advertised on booking sites for as early as July in a bid to salvage the season.

It came as last night the holiday dreams of millions of Britons were given a boost after Portugal and Greece said they were ready to welcome back UK tourists within days.

Tui, Britain’s biggest tour operator, is cutting three nights all-inclusive at the TUI SUNEO Odessos in Bulgaria on July 10 from £543 per person to £296. And a seven-night trip to Gran Canaria on July 6 has been slashed from £606 to £394.

Travel Zoo is offering two nights in Paris in September for £79 – up to 64 per cent cheaper than usual.

And easyJet Holidays is selling a week-long stay at Anseli Hotel in Rhodes from July 8 for £195 with flights and transfers.

But experts have warned desperate Britons to hold off booking for now.

The Foreign Office still advises against all but essential travel and there will be a two-week quarantine for returning holidaymakers from June 8.

Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: ‘If consumers are keen to book something now they should go into it with their eyes open.

‘If the FCO advice is still in place when their holiday is due to take place, they will get a refund, but there’s a good chance they will be waiting a long time.

‘Holiday providers need to make it clear to their customers that these holidays may not take place.’

The UK quarantine will be reviewed every three weeks. TUI spokesman Liz Edwards said they hope it will be lifted on June 29 in time for summer trips.

She added: ‘We believe we will be having summer holidays this year, hopefully from July. We hope the quarantine will be lifted, but air bridges are certainly a possibility.

‘Bookings have been really picking up. Spain, Greece, Cyprus are likely to open up first. The Canaries and Balearics are keen to welcome back tourists.’

Airlines are also heavily discounting flights. A Heathrow to Cancun return with Air France in September, which usually sells for around £800, is being advertised for £312.

And return flights from Manchester to Reykjavik with easyJet in November are being sold for £41 (usually £150 plus), and Manchester to Dubrovnik with Jet2 from £30 one-way in late June (usually around £120).

Emma Coulthurst, from TravelSupermarket, said: ‘The 14-day quarantine measure makes holidays pretty impractical, although I have heard of some people willing to do it to get a holiday. There is a risk booking now as there is no guarantee the holiday will go ahead.’

Research by TUI revealed the most popular destinations for trips this year are Spain, Greece and Italy followed by Florida and the Caribbean.

And those hoping to go to Greece or Portugal this summer could still get the chance.

Officials in Lisbon believe Britain has coronavirus ‘under control’ and want quarantine-free travel between the two countries to restart from this Saturday.

Greece’s tourism minister Harry Theocharis told the Mail the epidemic was moving ‘in the right direction’ in the UK and restrictions could be dropped for Britons from June 15.

The interventions increased pressure on Downing Street to re-think its plan for a ‘blanket’ 14-day quarantine amid a growing backlash from MPs at being denied a vote on the measures.

Ms Patel will now introduce the regulations in Parliament to come into effect from next Monday.

But they will be brought as a statutory instrument, which does not automatically go to a vote. Tory MPs are expecting the government to give a strong signal on air bridges to head off an outright rebellion.

Under the plans, anyone entering the country by plane, train or boat will have to go into quarantine for two weeks.

This will apply to foreign tourists as well as Britons returning from abroad.

However, some people, including medical professionals and lorry drivers, will be exempt.

MPs among a cross-party group of at least 40 who are critical of the plans last night voiced their fury.

They want the Government to leave open the option of creating ‘air bridges’ – which would allow tourists between two countries to visit without needing to quarantine – to salvage as much of the summer holiday season as possible and help keep the hard-hit tourism industry afloat.

They say, instead of quarantine, arrivals to the UK could be subject to health checks or testing.

Industry chiefs say millions of Britons are desperate for a foreign getaway, but the blanket quarantine policy has all but cancelled summer holidays.

Former Cabinet minister David Davis said: ‘Parliament should be properly involved and quite plainly it is not. In this particular case, its very blanket policy could reasonably be amended in a number of ways. 

‘For example, our death rate is many, many times than that in Greece. So the idea of quarantining someone coming from Greece who would have a much lower risk of suffering from the disease than someone anywhere else in Britain is plainly not supported by any sort of science.

‘The idea of putting in air bridges might be a sensible amendment.’

Former environment secretary Theresa Villiers said: ‘I would very much prefer the quarantine rules be targeted on flights from Covid hotspots.

‘I appreciate why the Government is bringing in quarantine but I do think that applying it in a blanket way across the board is an over-reaction.’

Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, said: ‘I hope the Government will move swiftly to introduce air bridges and also to introduce a testing regime at airports as quickly as possible.’

Downing Street last night insisted it still intended to push ahead with the policy.

It has stressed quarantine will be reviewed every three weeks and has left open the possibility of striking air bridge deals in future.

But the first review period would not be until June 29. 

It comes as a leading expert predicted today that Britain is on track to have zero Covid-19 deaths by July – as health chiefs announced 324 more coronavirus fatalities. 

Professor Carl Heneghan, an Oxford University epidemiologist, expects no ‘excess deaths’ when weekly data taking into account suspected and confirmed deaths is published next Tuesday.  

The weekly death toll in England and Wales dropped to its lowest levels since the lockdown began, an Office for National Statistics (ONS) report said today. A total of 1,983 people in England and Wales died with Covid-19 in the week ending May 22, down almost 30 per cent in a week and the lowest figure for two months.  

Both England and Wales – which suffered 16,000 deaths during the darkest fortnight of the crisis in April – are now en route to the way they were before the unprecedented lockdown was imposed on March 23.  

But sobering statistics also show that there have now been nearly 50,000 people killed by Covid-19 across the UK this year, cementing Britain’s position as one of the worst-hit countries in the world. And other estimates looking at ‘excess deaths’ – deemed the most reliable measure to work out the true scale of an infectious disease outbreak – show 62,000 more fatalities were recorded during the pandemic than expected.

It comes as the UK Government this week starts to move the nation out of lockdown and back to work and school as the number of new deaths and cases continue to tumble. 

Department of Health figures today revealed the official death toll has jumped to 39,369 – an increase of 324 on yesterday. For comparison, 111 fatalities were registered yesterday, as well as 134 last Tuesday – a figure much lower than expected due to a recording lag on the bank holiday Monday.  

At this evening’s press Downing Street press conference, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the trend for daily infections is ‘broadly down but there is still some way to go’, as the total number of positive tests neared 278,000. 

Mr Hancock said the number of new admissions for Covid-19 in England has fallen to the lowest since March 20, and demonstrates progress against the disease. Daily admissions are down seven per cent since last Tuesday.  

The Department of Health revealed 324 more people had died across all settings. 

Each nation’s health agency reported their own figures earlier today – including 12 in Scotland, seven in Wales and two in Northern Ireland. These figures do not always match with the DH count because of a difference in how they are recorded.

Today’s official Government figure, which brings the total closer to 40,000, is 68 per cent lower than the Tuesday a fortnight ago, when 545 deaths were recorded following a lag in reporting over the bank holiday. 

Processes for recording people’s deaths are known for slowing down and even stopping at the weekends and on bank holidays, meaning there is a dip every Monday, followed by surges on Tuesdays.   

The weekly report from ONS said there were 12,288 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending May 22, known as ‘Week 21’.

This was 2,285 less than the previous week – but still 2,348 more than usual for this time of year.

Professor Heneghan, director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, University of Oxford said he expects deaths to be back to normal by next week. 

Asked during a Science Media Centre briefing whether he expects deaths from Covid-19 to stop or plateau, Professor Heneghan said: ‘If the trends continue, the deaths look like they will be back to where they should be normally by next week.

‘There’s been a continued reduction in hospital deaths, care home outbreaks are coming down so the ‘all deaths’ by (week) 22 I’m expecting will be back to where we should be.’

Professor Heneghan said there may be no Covid-19 deaths by the end of June – which would follow Spain yesterday. Italy is still reporting between 50 and 100 deaths per day, and France around 30.

‘But it also depends on what happens next, within sporadic outbreaks,’ Professor Heneghan said.

He warned that there will be spikes in deaths with further outbreaks in care homes, and said information on how many people are catching the virus in hospital would ‘give us a really good understanding of the spreading of this disease’.

Professor Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at The Open University, said: ‘I certainly don’t want to be a prophet of gloom, but I would urge some caution about these positive trends. 

‘The new week’s data would not yet have been affected by the loosening of the lockdown. That began to happen in the previous week (ending 15 May), though most changes occurred much more recently.

‘If any of the changes turn out to have increased infections, that won’t show up in death statistics yet anyway, because obviously there is a time gap between infection and death. But we’ll see eventually.’ 

The $20 bill that instigated the arrest of George Floyd and its tragic consequences may not have been a fake – and if it was, Floyd would have never intentionally used counterfeit cash, his roommate claims.  

Floyd’s roommate of four years, Alvin Manago, 55, exclusively told DailyMail.com that Floyd was a stand-up guy and if he did use a counterfiet bill at the store before his death, it was ‘unintentional’.  

‘I’ve never known Floyd to use any counterfeit money. If he tried to pass along a counterfeit $20 bill it was unintentional,’ Manago said. ‘He probably didn’t know the money was fake. 

‘I’m just not sure why the store employees didn’t just tell him it was a fake $20. They all knew him them. He was a regular customer.’

Manago met George Floyd, 46, when they worked together at the Conga Bistro Bar and Grill. Floyd worked security and Manago worked as a bar back. Manago says they had been roommates for almost four years and considers him one of his best friends.

Floyd died last Monday after being killed during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for allegedly trying to use a counterfeit $20 at a local market.  

Cell phone video captured former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for several minutes after he was handcuffed. Floyd died hours later at a local hospital.  

Former police officer Derek Chauvin was arrested last week on a third degree murder and manslaughter charges, but Manago believes this is just the beginning.

‘I want to see all of the officers arrested,’ he said. ‘The other officers protected the situation even after George was unconscious.’

Manago also has issues with the probable cause statement. 

Manago said he wasn’t aware of any pre-existing medical conditions listed in the probable cause statement for Floyd.

The arrest warrant states that ‘the autopsy revealed no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation. Mr. Floyd had underlying health conditions including coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease. The combined effects of Mr. Floyd being restrained by the police, his underlying health conditions and any potential intoxicants in his system likely contributed to his death.’

‘I’ve never known Floyd to take any prescription medication apart from some pain pills on one occasion after he was recently released from the hospital. He never mentioned to me about having any medical problems or high blood pressure,’ said Manago.

Manago also said that Floyd barely drank alcohol.

‘He maybe had a shot or a beer. I’ve never seen him drunk or use drugs,’ he added. 

Choking up, Manago said Floyd was a good guy who had turned his life around. ‘He didn’t deserve to die this way. Floyd needs justice,’ he said. 

‘Floyd would be against the violence and looting. He wouldn’t want people looting and burning buildings in his name. He didn’t promote violence,’ said Manago.

‘He’d be disgusted with what’s going on in the country. I don’t want the looting and rioting attached to his name, he wouldn’t want that.

‘Floyd needs justice. Floyd didn’t deserve to die that way he did.’

Manago also says that Floyd had been exposed to someone who lived with them who had tested positive two months ago for COVID-19. However, he does not believe it had anything to do with his death. 

‘He went to the hospital a few months ago, he was sluggish, throwing up and had diarrhea and complaining of stomach pain. He spent a few days in the hospital and then came back home,’ said Manago.

At about the same time, Manago’s fiancée tested positive for COVID-19. Manago says that he was also tested but the results came back inconclusive. He wasn’t sure if Floyd was ever tested for the virus but said he displayed all of the symptoms of having it.

Manago said, ‘The health care workers told me that there was no reason to come back for another test since we lived with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus and have been exposed to it. So we should just treat it like we have it and self-quarantine.’ 

After Floyd was discharged from the hospital he came home and rested. Manago said he never found out exactly why Floyd spent time in the hospital, but is convinced they both had coronavirus.

As DailyMail.com exclusively revealed, Chauvin has been moved to one of the nation’s most secure prison to ‘ensure he’s not murdered behind bars’ according to law enforcement sources.

Chauvin was arrested last Friday and housed in the Ramsey County Jail in nearby St. Paul, Minnesota. On Sunday afternoon, he was transferred to the Hennepin County Jail in Minneapolis, then hours later transferred yet again to a correctional facility in Oak Heights, Minnesota –  the state’s only Level 5 maximum security prison.

Commissioner of Corrections Paul Schnell said Chauvin was moved to prison because of concerns about coronavirus and the huge influx of people being booked into Twin Cities jails on public order offenses.

‘First and foremost, we have a COVID situation. Second of all, a large number of people could be booked into Hennepin County Jail,’ Schnell said.

It’s highly unusual to lock defendants up in prison before they have been convicted, however officials did something similar in the case of disgraced Minneapolis officer Mohamed Noor who shot dead a woman in 2017 while responding to her 911 call.

‘The move to DOC custody was made out of an abundance of caution to ensure he is safely held and after concern about space in the jail due to large numbers of arrests related to the unrest over the last few nights,’ a spokesman said.

‘The DOC also took custody of former officer Mohamed Noor during the time he was in custody before being officially committed to our custody at sentencing, after a similar request in that case.

‘The processing of his [Chauvin’s] transfer to OPH, including the taking of photos, in being completed this morning. He will appear, with official photos, on the public database of inmates after that process is completed.

‘He is being held in administrative segregation outside the general population of the facility.’

Administrative segregation, a form of solitary confinement known as ‘in the hole’, is employed when inmates are deemed to be at grave risk of being attacked by other prisoners or because they pose a significant danger to others.

According to recent data released by the Minnesota Department of Corrections, the Oak Park Heights Prison currently houses 297 murderers, 69 sexual predators and eight kidnappers.

Some 46 percent of the prison population is black.

The 160-acre, rural prison is carved into the side of a hill and has been featured on the National Geographic show America’s Hardest Prisons.

Cells are 7 by 10 feet with cement slab bed and toilets and sink made of steel so they can’t be broken off to use as weapons.

The reinforced windows are said to be so secure that it would take 12,000 hacksaw blades to cut though the steel bars.

Chauvin will be held at the prison until next Monday, June 8th where he is scheduled to appear in a downtown Minneapolis courtroom for the first time since his arrest.