British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is back to work about two weeks after being discharged from the hospital where he was being treated for COVID-19.
Johnson warned from Downing Street on Monday that it is still too dangerous to lift the country’s lockdown for fear that there could be a second wave of the coronavirus that would wreak further havoc on the country’s population. There have been more than 158,000 infections in the United Kingdom and at least 21,100 deaths.
“If we can show the same spirit of unity and determination as we’ve all shown in the past six weeks, then I have absolutely no doubt that we will beat it,” the prime minister said. “I ask you to contain your impatience because I believe we are coming now to the end of the first phase of this conflict, and in spite of all the suffering, we have so nearly succeeded.”
The 55-year-old prime minister said he “cannot spell out now how fast or slow” lockdown restrictions will be eased but noted that there will be further information in the coming days.
“We must also recognize the risk of a second spike, the risk of losing control of that virus, and letting the reproduction rate go back over, one because that would mean not only a new wave of death and disease but also an economic disaster,” Johnson said.
Johnson was released from St. Thomas’ Hospital in London on Easter Sunday after recovering from COVID-19 complications. The prime minister was hospitalized on April 5 after being diagnosed with the coronavirus and was later moved to the ICU for three days as his condition worsened.
