Covid-19 update: America prepares for 3,000 daily deaths

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad:

News and analysis 

• New ONS figures take the UK’s Covid death toll to 32,375 – currently the highest number in Europe. There were 7,713 Covid-19 deaths outside of hospitals in England and Wales to 24 April.
• The first key workers on the Isle of Wight will trial the new contact tracing app today. However, the app has failed all its safety and cybersecurity tests.
• Matt Hancock has defended the app, arguing that personal data needs to be shared centrally so that the government can know where flare-ups of infection are occurring in the country.
• Builders and shop workers are to be encouraged to communicate via radio rather than face-to-face, according to leaked plans for workplace lockdown easing.
• The government’s scientific advisory group has raised concerns that people may try to deliberately get infected following the introduction of widespread antibody testing.
• Nigel