“Now is not the time to be complacent,” NHS England medical director Stephen Powis has warned. He said “every one of us” had a part to play if the UK was to keep the death toll under 20,000. The professor was speaking after the UK’s Covid-19 death toll reached 1,019. Prof Powis said: “If we can keep deaths below 20,000 we will have done very well in this epidemic”, before adding: “If we can reduce the transmission rate between the population then the virus will start to decline”. Meanwhile, a letter from Boris Johnson will be sent to 30m households next week, warning that “things will get worse before they get better” and urging the public to “stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.” The Prime Minister adds that the Government will “not hesitate to go further if that is what the scientific and medical advice tells us we must do. Elsewhere, Business Secretary Alok Sharma announced that insolvency rules will be changed to allow firms greater flexibility as they face the coronavirus crisis. He added that a range of measures to boost the supply of personal protective equipment, such as face masks to protect frontline NHS staff, are also being introduced. The Health and Safety Executive and local authorities will be asked to fast-track PPE through the product safety assessment process, and to make this a priority over “market surveillance activity.”