The director general of the CBI, Carolyn Fairbairn, has said she has been told firms will be able to submit furlough claims from next Monday.

Discussing the scope of the Government's furlough scheme, Ms Fairbairn told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: "I think one of the things that we recognise and that we've been going back to Government on is that there are instances where it is worth trying to redraw the rules.

"All I would say is that we're in a race against time on this and the more complexity is introduced into the system, the more the risk is that it won't deliver on time.

"Now we've got firms, hundreds and thousands of them over the country at the moment waiting for the furlough scheme to pay out - that we hope will start next week, the first date should be next Monday when it begins to deliver.

"And so if we add complexity into this we run the risk of it not working and hundreds and thousands of firms are waiting for it to deliver."

Ms Fairbairn added: "But we are, I think, very concerned that businesses will be forced into a position potentially of having to make people permanently redundant and we are trying to keep as much of the economy vibrant and alive to be able to come back when all of this is over."

Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds said "we do need to have more information provided than what we've had so far", for the Government's coronavirus financial support schemes.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Ms Dodds said: "We really think the Government needs to be actually publishing statistics around these different programmes. We need to know how many applications have been made, how many have then been successfully awarded."

She added: "We need to know whether the right systems are in place and unless we have the right data we can't do that, we can't identify where they need to change if we don't have that information."

Ms Dodds said that "we've got two weeks, as people watching this will know - if we're going to have any chance of getting these schemes working fully before the next pay day so unless they're actually sorted out very soon, then we potentially could have an even deeper impact on our economy then already that which has occurred".

She added that she is "quite concerned about the low take-up of that loan scheme".

Ms Dodds said "we really do need to know whether these programmes are working and getting to the people that they need to get to in short order".

Asked whether a Labour government would guarantee 100% of a business loan rather than 80%, she added: "Well we would look to learn from other countries, including that kind of a guarantee - as I said it's one option that we have publicly set out to Government for it to consider.

"But we need to have the data to know what it is that is holding up particularly the loans programme from making the impact that it is having in other countries."

Ms Dodds said: "Now Government needs to be providing a clear plan for its future and if it can't do that yet, at least indicating what the principles are that will drive decision-making in relation to the furlough scheme."

She added: "But we need Government to be charting a way forward for this and to be open and transparent about it."

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has revealed plans to launch a global clinical trial to look at using one of its drugs to help treat the immune response triggered by Covid-19 in severely ill patients.

The UK drugs group said it was testing Calquence - which is currently used to treat some blood cancers - after encouraging early clinical results suggested that suppressing the inflammation caused by the immune response could reduce the respiratory harm caused by coronavirus.

This could cut deaths from Covid-19 and the need for ventilation in patients with life-threatening symptoms of the virus, Astra said.

Jose Baselga, executive vice-president of oncology research and development at Astra, said: "With this trial we are responding to the novel insights of the scientific community and hope to demonstrate that adding Calquence to best supportive care reduces the need to place patients on ventilators and improves their chances of survival.

"This is the fastest launch of any clinical trial in the history of AstraZeneca."

Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said we are talking about a battle against coronavirus "that isn't going to be over in weeks, it will take months".

Speaking to Sky News about the use of masks by the general public being under review, Ms Coffey said: "So far the medical advice has been that it is only really needed in a clinical setting and it is not necessary for people, by use in public.

"As was set out, if that evidence changes then of course we will review that but thus far I'm not aware of any change that's required in order to make sure that masks become a general way of life for people.

"On the contrary, the advice is still very firm - you do not and should not be wearing masks outside unless you've had clinical instructions to do so."

On Universal Credit, she added: "Well listen, we're up to about 1.4 million people who have claimed Universal Credit and also other people who have claimed other things like Jobseeker's Allowance or Employment Support Allowance.

"So we are capable of processing and managing those claims."