The government’s daily press conference featured no live questions from journalists today due to a technical issue with Zoom.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma instead had to read questions out from journalists himself, before going on to answer them with national medical director for England, Dr Stephen Powis. This meant there were no follow-up questions.
Sharma explained: ‘I think people watching will, I’m quite sure, be aware that Zoom users are encountering some issues at the moment, so unfortunately we won’t be able to get any journalists live on-screen. Instead I will be reading out their questions that have been sent in.’
The lack of live journalists was quickly picked up on social media, with many people joking that it was ‘convenient’ for the Business Secretary. Others claimed that they had checked their own accounts on Zoom and found the app to be working fine.
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Reports of Zoom encountering issues began around 10am this morning, accoring to Downdetector. A spokesperson for the conference calling app said earlier today: ‘We have received reports that Zoom users may be experiencing issues hosting and joining meetings and webinars.’
They added that their team is currently investigating the cause of the issue and encouraged people to keep checking their website for updates.
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During the press conference, Sharma announced that the UK could soon be ready to move to ‘level three’ of the current coronavirus lockdown.
The alert levels are based on the R value and number of coronavirus cases in the UK. The higher the alert level, the more strict the lockdown measures need to be, Sharma said.
He continued: ‘Throughout the period of lockdown we have been at Level four. Thanks to you, people across the country, we have collectively helped to bring the R level down. We are now in a position to begin moving to level 3, in careful steps.
‘We have set out the first of three steps we will take to carefully modify the measures, gradually ease the restrictions and begin to allow people to return to their usual way of life while avoiding a disastrous second peak that overwhelms the NHS.’
Sharma said after every step the government would continue to monitor the impact on R and the number of infections taking place across the country. He added: ‘We will only take the next step when we are satisfied that it is safe to do so.’
‘We may never find a successful coronavirus vaccine,’ minister admits
He then went on state that the world ‘may never find a successful coronavirus vaccine’, while revealing the government has pledged another £84 million to continue funding research at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London.
The Business Secretary said: ‘There are no certainties. In spite of the tireless efforts of our scientists, it is possible that we may never find a successful coronavirus vaccine.
‘So we also need to look at other drug treatments and therapeutics for those who get the virus… While there are currently no drugs in the world that have been clinically proven to treat coronavirus, the government is working with our scientists and medical experts to identify promising candidates.’
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