By Ben Kerrigan-
U.K Prime Minister Boris Johnson has asked the British public to contain their patience over the call for an ease of lockdown restrictions. In his first public speech since returning to work, Johnson said there would be no quick lifting of restrictions in the country, as he made his first public statement since returning to work after recovering from a coronavirus infection.
Johnson imposed lockdown restrictions on the British public and a vast majority ofbusinesses on March 23, permitting individuals to go out only to buy essential goods .‘Once again I want to thank you, the people of this country, for the sheer grit and guts you’ve continued to show,’ he said. ‘Every day I know this virus brings sadness and mourning to households across the land.’
“We are passing through the peak,” Johnson said “We are on the brink of achieving that first great mission, to prevent our National Health Service (NHS) from being overwhelmed,” he said, adding that the country was “beginning to turn the tide” against the outbreak. In a stark warning against lifting the restrictions now, he said: “this is the moment of maximum risk” as he asked the public to contain their “impatience” in relation to the lockdown.
“There will be time to refine the restrictions and to fire up the engines of the economy,” Johnson said outside Downing Street, but he added “we cannot say when those changes will be made.” Highlighting the seriousness of the coronavirus, he said:
‘It is still true that this is the biggest single challenge this country has faced since the war and I in no way minimise the continuing problems we face. ‘And yet it is also true that we are making progress with fewer hospital admissions, fewer Covid patients in ICU and real signs now that we are passing through the peak. Johnson said that once the government’s
“five tests” had been met, then restrictions would “gradually” ease, in order to “one-by-one to fire up the engines of this vast UK economy”.
But he added: “We simply cannot spell out now how fast or slow or even when those changes will be made.”
“And so I know it is tough. And I want to get this economy moving as fast as I can, but I refuse to throw away all the effort and the sacrifice of the British people and to risk a second major outbreak and huge loss of life and the overwhelming of the NHS.
“And 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.”
Boris Johnson’s decision on when to ease the Uk lockdown will depend on advice provided by a body of scientific advisers known as sage who meet with the prime minister regularly to interpret statistical data of the death rates arising from Covid-19 and advice him accordingly..
The U.K. has 154,037 reported cases of Covid-19 as of Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University data, and has reported 20,795 deaths