MILLIONS of pounds will be unlocked from dormant accounts to help charities as they respond to the coronavirus crisis, the government has announced.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said that of the £150 million fund, £10m will be provided for the Youth Futures Foundation to help organisations that support unemployed and disadvantaged young people.

Some £45m will go to Big Society Capital for emergency loans, £65m is earmarked for Fair4Finance to support credit providers and £30m to access in supporting social enterprises. 

Following a question from the media, Mr Dowden denied the government had glossed over past mistakes with the spread of coronavirus in care homes. He insisted that testing had been available for care homes “right from the very beginning.”

Mr Dowden said that he wanted schools in England to reopen at the same time, just hours after his Cabinet colleague Robert Buckland said there may not be a “uniform approach.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson once again was a no-show at the daily briefing.

NHS England national medical director Professor Stephen Powis said that the number of coronavirus patients in hospital had fallen below 10,000 for the first time since March.

In the last 24 hours, 363 people died in the UK, bringing the official total to 35,704.