Portrait of the week: Boris packs his bags, XR blocks bridges and Netflix viewers switch off

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Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, told the House of Commons that it did not occur to him that the gathering in the Cabinet Room on his birthday (for which he had been issued a fixed-penalty notice) could amount to a breach of the rules on coronavirus. ‘That was my mistake and I apologise for it unreservedly,’ he said. He packed his bags for a visit to India to coincide with a Commons debate on whether he had misled parliament. Priti Patel issued a ministerial direction (the second in the Home Office in 30 years) to implement a scheme whereby people deemed to have entered Britain unlawfully since 1 January could be flown to Rwanda, where they would be allowed to apply for the right to settle there. More than 6,000 people had crossed the Channel in small craft in 2022.

In the seven days up to 17 April, 1,289 people had died with coronavirus, bringing total deaths (within 28 days of testing positive) to 171,396. In the previous week 1,613 had died. Numbers with Covid remaining in hospital in the United Kingdom fell from about 20,000 to about 19,000. The NHS said that patients in waiting rooms would no longer have to observe social distancing. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Cabinet Office minister, said that civil servants must stop working from home and return to the office. Sir Harrison Birtwistle, the composer, died aged 87.

Extinction Rebellion blocked four London bridges. A replacement for the 118-year-old railway bridge over Rugby Road, Leamington Spa, was brought through Warwickshire on a 96-wheel road transporter. Rob Key, the former England batsman, was appointed as managing director of the England cricket team and will help find Joe Root’s replacement as captain.