Evening summary The chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that the job retention scheme – the multi-billion coronavirus 80% wage subsidy – will be extended by one month until the end of June. The scheme is due to formally open on Monday next week, although payments will be backdated to 1 March. The extension amounts to an immense spending announcement, perhaps costing the Treasury £10bn or more. Ministers reportedly believe that keeping the scheme going through the summer and beyond would be simply unaffordable. The government has set up a vaccine taskforce to find a coronavirus vaccine, the business secretary Alok Sharma announced at the daily press conference. He called producing a vaccine a “colossal undertaking” that would take many months and there was no guarantee of success. The health secretary Matt Hancock was unable to give MPs assurance that some hospitals won’t run out of gowns this weekend. This came on the same day the Guardian learned that NHS bosses have asked doctors and nurses to work without full-length gowns when treating Covid-19 patients, as hospitals across England are set to run out of supplies within hours. The government will meet on Tuesday to discuss whether to recommend a change in policy on face masks. Sadiq Khan has been lobbying the government to change its advice on wearing masks to members of the public. Appearing on BBC Breakfast, the mayor of London urged the public to wear non-surgical masks when they go out, particularly on public transport and in shops where it isn’t always possible to stay 2 metres apart. He was backed by the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer who said he thought he was “inevitable” that the government would have to start advising people to wear masks in certain circumstances, in step with changes taking places across Europe. Booking summer holidays at this time would be a mistake, the transport secretary Grant Shapps said, highlighting that while there are signs that the curve is flattening there has yet to be a decline. That’s it from us today on the UK side. Thank you to everybody who got in touch throughout the day with tips and suggestions, and to all of you for reading along. If you’d like to continue following the Guardian’s coverage of the worldwide picture, head over to our global live blog. Here are the main points from the press conference. Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, sought to quash hopes that a vaccine could provide an early solution to the coronavirus crisis. The business secretary, Alok Sharma, used the press conference to announce that Vallance will chair a new government vaccine taskforce that will “drive forward, expedite and co-ordinate efforts to research and then produce a coronavirus vaccine and make sure one is made available to the public as quickly as possible”. Vallance did not question the importance of finding a vaccine. But he did at least twice stress that finding one might take time. He said: First of all, we’ve got to get a vaccine. That isn’t two days away, it’s not two months away. Making a vaccine is a difficult, complicated process. It doesn’t only have to work, it has to be safe, and of course for a disease like this it has to be very safe if you are going to use it right across the population. So there is a lot to do before we’re in that position. And later he said: Just to put some realism on vaccine development, each single project does not have a high probability of success. So although everyone goes out with great enthusiasm and we hope they work, it’s never the case that you know you’ve got a vaccine that’s going to work. So that’s the first thing that we need to be sure of. The second thing is then the safety and it’s incredibly important that these vaccines are tested properly, that’s why it takes some time to get to the clinical trials and understand the potential unwanted effects of a vaccine. And then only when that has been done can this be used widely across the population and so those are the stages we need to go through. Vallance said that government advisers would decide on Tuesday next week whether to recommend a change of policy on face masks. At the moment the government does not advise members of the public to wear them. Vallance said this was in line with World Health Organisation recommendations. But Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has said that people on public transport should be advised to wear them (see 7.53am) and Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, has said he thinks a change in policy is inevitable. (See 4.29pm.) Asked about their views, Vallance said: The evidence is quite variable around masks. It’s not easy to really get a firm position on some of it, and there aren’t really good trials of masks. We are looking at the evidence now. We’ve looked at it this week twice. We’re going to look at it again on Tuesday and hope to be able to make some advice around whether any changes are needed or not at the moment. We’re entirely in line with the WHO recommendations. The difference between this disease and others is the pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic spread which adds an added complexity to where masks may or may not fit into this. In these extraordinary times, the Guardian’s editorial independence has never been more important. Because no one sets our agenda, or edits our editor, we can keep delivering quality, trustworthy, fact-checked journalism each and every day. Free from commercial or political bias, we can report fearlessly on world events and challenge those in power. Your support protects the Guardian’s independence. We believe every one of us deserves equal access to accurate news and calm explanation. No matter how unpredictable the future feels, we will remain with you, delivering high quality news so we can all make critical decisions about our lives, health and security – based on fact, not fiction. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. Sharma ends by thanking people for the sacrifices they are making. And he repeats the message about staying at home to protect the NHS. That’s it. The press conference is over. I’ll post a summary soon. Q: Why are you going ahead with HS2 when money is so short? Sharma says it is important to support the construction sector. And the government should keep the economy going where it can. Q: There is a disproportionately high number of deaths in the West Midlands. Do you know why? Doyle says they expected cities to be hit first. But other factors are relevant. For example, they are looking at areas where there are lots of care homes. Q: Will West Midlands hospitals get the PPE they need? Sharma says he is aware of the supply problems. But there is a global supply issue. He pays tribute to businesses that have stepped in to supply PPE. Q: Will you commit to ensuring care workers have full sick pay? Sharma says a whole range of support is provided. He says the government very much values the heroes that we have. Q: Was it a mistake for the government to dismiss essential workers as low-skilled labour? Sharma says everyone in government wants to pay tribute to the work of NHS workers. Q: Dominic Raab talks yesterday about possibly strengthening the lockdown in some areas. In which areas? Geographically, or by sector? Sharma says he does not want to “muddy the waters” by speculating. Vallance says there are a number of options. But it is too early to be talking about them. Q: Are you considering recommending the use of face masks for people on public transport? Sharma says Sage, the scientific advisory group for emergencies, is looking at this. Vallance says Sage is looking at this. The evidence is variable. He says there may be a decision on Tuesday. He says at the moment the UK is in line with WHO advice. Q: You told the CBI earlier they would have to get used to a new normal. What did you mean by that? Will some restrictions have to stay in place until there is a vaccine? Sharma says the government is asking people to work from home if they can. But this is not always possible. He says employers will have to adapt the way they work, so they can keep people safe. Q: Are you saying you expect people to carry on working from home until there is a vaccine? Sharma says the lockdown has been extended for three weeks. But there are exceptions, he says. He says he has been emphasising that, in those circumstances, employers must follow Public Health England guidance. Q: Have there been any findings from investigations into the deaths of NHS workers from coronavirus? Doyle says the investigations are under way. Not all of these are workplace deaths, she says. And she says it is important to get these investigations right. Q: Oxford scientists have said they are so confident that their vaccine will work that they are going to manufacture 1m doses. What will you do to make sure the UK is first in the queue to buy it? Sharma says this is a reference to the Edward Jenner Institute. He has spoken to them, and is supporting the work that they are doing. Vallance says these researchers have done a great job. But there are over 100 vaccine projects around the world. There are at least two, or perhaps three, in the clinic. But most vaccine trials do not work, he says. He says you can only use vaccines when you know they are safe. He says the vaccine can come from anywhere. The domestic effort is being supported. But it might come from somewhere else. We just need to back lots of horses at the moment. And we may need more than one vaccine, he says. Q: When might businesses get back to normal? Was Nadine Dorries right to say it will only be when there is a vaccine? Sharma says people will understand why the lockdown has been extended. The government will always be led by the scientific advice, he says. Q: What can you say to the tourism sector? Will there be a summer season? Sharma says he speaks to businesses every day. The government has given support for businesses in this sector. The furlough scheme has been extended. But this is a tough time, he says. Q: Some 21,000 tests were carried out yesterday. How will you get to 100,000 a day by the end of the month? Sharma says the capacity is for 38,000 tests a day. And there are 26 drive-through testing centres. They are doing everything they can to hit this target, he says. Prof Yvonne Doyle, medical director for Public Health England, claims they are on track to meet the target. Q: When you get a vaccine, who will get it first? Vallance says this is not immediate. It is not two days away, nor two months away. When you have a vaccine, you vaccinate the most vulnerable first. But they are not at that stage yet. Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, is presenting the daily slides. On transport use, he says there is some evidence in places where there is little coronavirus of people ignoring social distancing rules. They should not. Vallance says this next slide is the most important. He says more than 5,500 people are involved in clinical trials. The number of hospital cases are not only plateauing, but going down in some places. That will mean fewer people going to intensive care, he says. But he says this process will take weeks. Here is the final slide, with death figures. The measures being taken are making a difference, Vallance says. Sharma says producing a vaccine will be a colossal undertaking. He says it will take any months. And there is no guarantee of success. But he is proud of the way Britain has stepped up to the challenge. We are a country with a rich history of pioneering science, he says. 21 new coronavirus research projects funded Earlier the government sent out an embargoed press release with more details of the vaccine taskforce that Alok Sharma has just announced. Here is an excerpt. The taskforce, led by Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan van Tam, will support efforts to rapidly develop a coronavirus vaccine as soon as possible by providing industry and research institutions with the resources and support needed. This includes reviewing regulations and scaling up manufacturing, so that when a vaccine becomes available, it can be produced quickly and in mass quantities. Representatives from government, academia and industry are coming together to form the Taskforce. Members will include government life sciences champion Sir John Bell, as well as AstraZeneca, and the Wellcome Trust. Alongside the creation of the taskforce, the government is also announcing that 21 new coronavirus research projects will benefit from funding worth around £14m. Giving details, it says: One new project led by the University of Oxford will trial an anti-malarial drug believed to have anti-inflammatory properties to determine whether it could diminish the effects of Covid-19 on people in high risk groups. GP surgeries across the UK have been invited to take part in this ground-breaking trial, to ascertain whether it could reduce the need for affected patients to go to hospital and speed up their recovery. Other projects receiving vital government funding from this new pot include: Imperial College London testing a vaccine against coronavirus that aims for the body to produce more protective antibodies; Public Health England developing a new antibody that could offer protection against infection and disease progression of coronavirus; Public Health England studying how Covid-19 can be transmitted from person-to-person by determining how long it can survive in the air and on different materials found in hospitals and households like fabric, plastics, metals and ceramics.