The UK Government is to end its daily coronavirus press briefings, it has been announced.
Since March, a government minister and advisers have appeared live on TV almost every day to outline the latest response to the pandemic, and be asked questions by the public and the media.
Weekend conferences were scrapped at the start of June, and now they’ll only be held in the event of “significant announcements”.
Data normally published at the conferences, including slides showing the number of cases and test, will be made available online.
The move comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced an easing of the lockdown in the House of Commons.
“From today, the press conferences will no longer be daily,” said a Government spokesman.
“We’ll continue to hold press conferences to coincide with significant announcements, including with the Prime Minister.
“We will be publishing all of the data which has previously been included in the press conference slides on gov.uk every week day.”
Most of the briefings were chaired by Mr Johnson or Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab deputised for the PM while he was ill with Covid-19, while a number of other cabinet secretaries led briefings on their portfolio areas.
England’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty and the government’s Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance have also become familiar faces from their multiple appearances in the televised briefings.
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