Quick action saved lives

DAVID Walliams is releasing a 30 daily audio stories for children to listen to for free.

The TV star said one of his World’s Worst Children stories could be heard at 11am each day via Twitter.

SOME Asian countries have contained the virus after acting early and fast while Western countries dithered.

Taiwan and Singapore have both suffered only two deaths.

Measures included strict quarantine conditions and aggressive testing.

South Korea, which at one point had the most infections outside China, also managed to tame the outbreak.

Its number of deaths is 120 – far fewer than many expected.

THE first day of lockdown was hit by chaos yesterday amid confusion over who is allowed to travel.

Commuter trains were packed after mixed messages from ministers left many workers unclear about restrictions to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Construction sites stayed open, meaning builders were among those filling the trains alongside key workers.

It prompted transport union the TSSA to demand tighter restrictions to ensure all rail users are key workers.

Tory MP Andrew Murrison called for “further clarity on how builders, plumbers, electricians and plasterers should be conducting themselves at work or, indeed, whether they should be at work at all”.

He added: “There seems

CONFUSION Hancock and Michael Gove to be some confusion as to whether they should be on site or in premises. It seems that there has been some confusion over the past 24 hours.”

NHS staff said they dreaded the danger of their crowded commute.

Sonographer Nicola Smith called for London Mayor Sadiq Khan to reverse the decision to cut trains in the capital or for police to crack down at stations.

She said: “I love my job but now I’m risking my health just on the journey in. Sadiq Khan, put the Tube service back to normal so we can all spread out or Boris Johnson start policing who is getting on. Help me. I worry for my health more on my commute than actually being in the hospital.” Nurse Julia Harris, who commutes to work at Imperial College NHS Trust in the capital, said: “The issue is key workers aren’t just health professionals – I

think we under-estimated how many people are needed to keep things running.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock called for more London Underground trains to run to ease the crowding. He said: “The first and the best answer is that Transport for London should have the Tube running in full so that people travelling on the

Tube are spaced out and can be further apart – obeying the two-metre rule wherever possible.”

Transport for London said: “We will continue to run as much of a Tube service as we possibly can but as our staff themselves fall ill or have to self-isolate we are simply not able to run a full service.”

Mr Khan said he had urged the Prime Minister to stop builders working but was “overruled”. He added: “He believes construction workers should be going to work and they can do it safely. I’ve worked on a building site.

“The idea that construction workers can stay two metres apart during the course of a busy day...I find astonishing.”

More than a million construction workers are self-employed and have so far been offered little help by the Government.

Thousands went into work as normal yesterday after Housing Minister Robert Jenrick told them on Monday: “If you are working on site, you can continue to do so. But follow Public Health England guidance on social distancing.”

But one member of the public sent him a photo of men in hi-vis jackets crowded together, saying: “How are you keeping builders and their families safe by allowing construction to continue?”

Trade union Unite called for the wage

NICOLA SMITH LONDON SONOGRAPHER ON TUBES

I worry for my health more on my commute than being in hospital