Boris Johnson chairs the first EVER virtual Cabinet meeting where NO ministers are in the same room

Boris Johnson this morning chaired the first ever totally ‘remote’ meeting of his Cabinet as he continued to self-isolate in Downing Street while suffering from coronavirus.

The meeting of the UK’s top ministers was expected to be held entirely via videolink after three of the four people who were in the room for last week’s semi-remote meeting were struck by the virus or showed symptoms.

Mr Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock have been under quarantine since testing positive last Friday.

Chief Medical Officer professor Chris Whitty, who gave a presentation to last Tuesday’s meeting, is also self-isolating with symptoms.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said today the meeting would take place via web video conferencing. 

Asked about Mr Johnson’s condition, he told BBC Breakfast: ‘The Prime Minister is good. He is chairing Cabinet later this morning and we will be dialling in via video, via Zoom.

‘He is in fine fettle.’ 

It comes as 1,408 people are confirmed to have died in UK hospitals after testing positive for Covid-19, as of 5pm on Sunday. 

But the true death toll of the coronavirus outbreak in the UK could be 24 per cent higher than NHS figures show, according to statistics released today.

Patients who had COVID-19 mentioned on their death certificates numbered 210 in England and Wales up to March 20, the Office for National Statistics revealed.

This was 24 per cent higher than the 177 deaths recorded by NHS England during the same time frame.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has launched a new data series adding in the numbers of people who have died with or after having COVID-19 in the community, including those who died in care homes or at home.

Coronavirus was not necessarily the cause of death for every one of the patients, but was believed to have been a factor.

Anyone who has the virus – for which at least 22,141 people have tested positive in the UK – mentioned on their death certificate will be included in the statistics.

This adds to the daily updates coming from NHS hospitals around the country where patients of all ages are dying in intensive care units.

The meeting this morning comes amid growing pressure to get more protective equipment to health workers.

The Prime Minister has faced heavy criticism over shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline NHS staff as well as the slow rollout of testing – issues which are likely to be discussed by ministers on Tuesday morning.

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt has also voiced further concerns about the lack of testing in the UK after it emerged the Government had still not hit its target of 10,000 tests a day.

This is despite earlier claims by Mr Hancock that the target had been reached.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged countries to ‘test, test, test’ as a key part of their strategy to beat the virus.

But officials have admitted the UK does not have the same capacity as other countries that are testing more, including Germany which is conducting around 70,000 per day.

Mr Hunt told the Guardian: ‘The big advantage we now have is evidence that testing works in other countries.

‘We can see that Asian countries have been spectacularly more successful than European ones in avoiding mass lockdown.’