Expect journalists to refine their questioning techniques quickly in the age of the virtual press conference

At the moment reporters must decide whether to try to cover the whole range of issues, or hammer away at one single topic, writes Andrew Woodcock

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, at the latest government press conference (PA)

Social distancing stemming from the coronavirus crisis has created the bizarre spectacle, new to British journalism, of the virtual press conference.

And it’s a development that has led to a certain amount of dismay and concern among members of Westminster’s lobby, currently dispersed to spare rooms around London and the home counties rather than hunting as a pack in SW1.

In what has now become a familiar routine, ministers and senior health officials appear at 5pm every evening, carefully maintaining at least two metres’ distance from one another as they deliver the latest dose of bad news to the watching nation from an empty room in 10 Downing Street.