The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government - Robert Jenrick - has been leading the daily Coronavirus new conference from Downing Street to update the nation on the Government's continued response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Secretary of State provided an update with the latest death and testing figures for the virus. As always, my heart goes out to the families of all those affected by this terrible disease.
Robert Jenrick took the opportunity to update the nation on the work being done by his department to support local communities through this pandemic.
The battle against COVID-19 is truly a national effort, however, people need to be brought together to ensure they're properly supported. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has provided local authorities with millions of pounds of funding to support businesses in their communities.
Together with local councils, MHCLG have coordinated the production and distribution of over one million boxes of food that have been delivered to shielded and vulnerable people. This has been a huge team effort and has involved the help of the armed forces in distributing these packages.
Essential construction work, especially on vulnerable buildings with cladding, will continue without further delay.
Every single community matters during this pandemic and I know the Government are still committed to the levelling-up agenda that was a key policy in last years General Election.
On Sunday the Prime Minister will set out the Government's plans for the second phase of our collective fight-back against Coronavirus.