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Coronavirus: Government scraps weekend briefings over ‘low ratings’

Downing Street is to scrap ministerial coronavirus briefings at the weekend, blaming poor TV viewing figures.

The move comes after ministers were blasted by the UK’s statistics watchdog for “misleading” use of figures on Cover-19 testing at the daily briefings.

Downing Street said that prime minister Boris Johnson will commit to appearing once a week in the new five-a-week schedule of press conferences to give statements and answer questions from the media and members of the public alongside scientific and medical advisers.

Asked why the briefings were being cut back from seven to five a week, with none on Saturday or Sunday starting this weekend, Mr Johnson’s official spokesman said: “It is just a fact that there numbers viewing at weekends tend to be significantly lower.”

However, questions are certain to be raised about the government's commitment to transparency after a number of briefings produced negative headlines over breaches of lockdown by Mr Johnson's aide Dominic Cummings and problems with the deployment of the new test-and-trace system and delays to the app to track contacts of Covid-19 patients.

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