Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made his first public appearance on Monday after being hospitalized with coronavirus three weeks ago. The official said Britain was beginning to "flip the tide" at the outbreak, but rejecting calls to ease a nationwide lockdown.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson observes a minute of silence in a tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who died during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at 10 Downing Street, London, Britain April 28. 2020.
In an announcement in Downing Street, looking thinner and with his trademark blond hair, Johnson apologized for being away "for much longer than I would have liked."
The Prime Minister lauded the British people for heeding more than a month of stay-at-home orders. The Prime Minister said their action had helped make sure the state-run National Health Service (NHS) had "not become overwhelmed."
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"That is how and why we are now beginning to turn the tide," Johnson said. He echoed his promise on March 19 that Britain will turn the tide at the outbreak in three months if people observed social distancing rules.
And at the same time, AFP said Johnson acknowledged developing demands for the lockdown to be lifted to lessen the monetary impact, he insisted that now is not the time.
"I refuse to throw away all the effort and the sacrifice of the British people and to risk a second major outbreak, a huge loss of life and the overwhelming of the NHS," he said.
'Refining' lockdown measures
Johnson, 55, was the highest world leader to have COVID-19 one month ago.
He spent one week in the hospital, with three nights in extensive care. The Prime Minister admitted in a video message after he was discharged from things "could have gone either way."
But Johnson said this could best manifest when the outbreak was under control, infection costs had fallen, and issues of testing and equipment were resolved.
"If there is a question over whether something is necessary or not, I think we should err on the side of openness and trying to make sure that more people can get on with their lives and more people can get on with getting back to their jobs," he told BBC radio on Sunday night, Apr. 26.
Mr. Johnson, who was discharged from the hospital a few weeks ago, signaled that the authorities could hold some social-distancing measures in the area for the foreseeable future. Britain's Prime Minister, according to The New York Times, said carrying out the measures too soon might mean "not only a new wave of death and disease but also an economic disaster."
The government has said it'll refine the lockdown again on May 7, and it's far possibly to relax some restrictions. But experts say Britain is far lagging badly in testing and speak to tracing. They noted the situation as a precondition for reverting to more normal status, like in South Korea, which pioneered a national testing program.
With the daily death toll in hospitals falling, there is proof that Britain has exceeded the peak of infections, The New York Times reported. Mr. Johnson stressed the National Health Service's achievement in scaling up capacity, which ensured that hospitals had not been beaten in Britain as they were in northern Italy.
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