LONDON: Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that the United Kingdom is ‘past the peak’ of its coronavirus outbreak.
Boris Johnson said, “For the first time, we are past the peak of this disease and we are on the downward slope.” He asserted, “We are coming through the peak, or rather we are coming over what could have been a vast peak,” he added.
Moreover, he promised to lay out a roadmap next week to lift the lockdown, with further details that might look like to emerge. “We can now see the sunlight and the pastures ahead of us. So it is vital that we do not now lose control and run slap into a second and even bigger mountain,” he asserted.
There are now more than 171,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK and more than 26,700 people with the virus have died.
The actual number of cases is estimated to be higher until recently it was mostly just those in hospital and some NHS and care staff who were being tested – but the testing programme is now being extended.
The new coronavirus was first confirmed in the UK at the end of January. Strict social distancing measures were introduced at the end of March, while the daily death toll continued to rise into April.
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