Boris Johnson has declared the UK is “past the peak and on the downward slope” of the coronavirus outbreak.
The prime minister, speaking at the daily Downing Street COVID-19 briefing, also revealed he will next week set out the government’s exit plan – which could include Britons being told to wear face masks – for easing lockdown measures.
Mr Johnson thanked the public for their “massive collective effort” in protecting the NHS during the coronavirus outbreak.
“At no stage has our NHS been overwhelmed, no patient went without a ventilator, no patient was deprived of intensive care,” he said.
“It is thanks to that massive collective effort to shield the NHS that we avoided an uncontrollable and catastrophic epidemic where the reasonable worst-case scenario was 500,000 deaths.
“I can confirm today that for the first time we are past the peak of this disease.
“We are past the peak and on the downward slope.”
But Mr Johnson warned of the risk of a “second spike” in coronavirus infections in the UK, the avoidance of which is part of the government’s five tests for lifting lockdown measures.
“We have come through the peak – or rather we’ve come under what could have been a vast peak, as though we’ve been going through some huge alpine tunnel and we can now see the sunlight and pasture ahead of us,” he said.
“And so it is vital that we do not now lose control and run slap into a second and even bigger mountain.”
The prime minister said, to avoid the “disaster” of a second spike in infections, the government would do “nothing” that risks lifting the “R” – or reproduction rate – of the virus back above one; which would mean each infected person was passing on the disease to at least one other person.
He warned a second spike in infections would cause “lasting economic damage” to the UK.
Announcing the latest death figures, which now include those who have died outside hospitals, Mr Johnson said there had now been 26,711 confirmed coronavirus deaths – an increase of 674 since Wednesday.
The government has recently faced increasing pressure to set out how lockdown measures – which have been in place since 23 March – might be eased, and Mr Johnson said he would unveil a “comprehensive plan” next week.
He said this would “explain how we can get our economy moving, our children back to school and into childcare, and thirdly how we can travel to work and make life in the workplace safer”.
“In short, how we can continue to suppress the disease and at the same time restart the economy,” he added.
The prime minister said the plan would represent a “road map” and will provide a “menu of options” for lifting some lockdown measures.
“The dates and times of each individual measure will be very much driven by where we are in the epidemic, what the data is really saying and we are getting in a lot more data every day now and in the course of the next few days,” he said.
The prime minister suggested the use of face masks could form a key part of the government’s strategy for relieving the stringent social distancing rules.
“As part of coming out of the lockdown, I do think face coverings will be useful,” he said.
“Both for epidemiological reasons but, also, for giving people confidence that they can go back to work.”
Mr Johnson dismissed suggestions that austerity cuts to government spending could be made in the aftermath of the pandemic.
“I think the economy will bounce back strongly, I think that this government will want to encourage that bounce back in all kinds of ways,” he said.
“I’ve never particularly liked the term (austerity)… and it’ll certainly not be part of our approach.”
The prime minister delivered the daily briefing from Downing Street for the first time since 25 March.
In the five weeks since he last appeared at the daily Number 10 news conference, Mr Johnson has been into – and discharged from – intensive care with COVID-19, and then also been at the birth of his baby son with fiancee Carrie Symonds.
The prime minister described Wednesday’s visit to an NHS maternity ward as a “very much happier hospital visit”.
Earlier on Thursday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said that the UK could end up with “one of Europe’s worst death rates” and an inquiry into the government’s handling of the crisis was “inevitable”.
He said: “I think the government was slow into lockdown, I think they were slow on testing and ramping up testing, they were slow on getting protective equipment to the right place at the right time and they’re still not where they need to be.” – Sky News.
