Boris Johnson: UK ‘past the peak’ of coronavirus outbreak
Boris Johnson has announced that the UK is past the peak of its coronavirus outbreak and that he will outline the government’s plan to ease the lockdown next week.
Speaking at today’s press briefing, Johnson said the country was “past the peak and we’re on the downward slope”.
He said that next week’s unveiling of the country’s exit strategy will be a “road map” and will not have specific dates attached to it, while also indicating that people be directed to wear face masks in public.
It comes as the UK’s death toll from Covid-19 hit 26,711 today.
“I will be laying out a comprehensive plan next week to explain how we will get our economy running, how we get our children back into school and childcare and how we can travel to work and how we can make life in the workplace safer,” Johnson said.
“In short, how we can continue to suppress the disease and at the same time restart the economy.”
Johnson said the key to easing social distancing restrictions would be avoiding a second peak of infections by keeping the reproduction rate, or r, of the disease down.
The reproduction rate of the disease is how many people an infected coronavirus patient passes the disease onto.
An r of one means that each carrier infects one other person.
The UK’s reproduction rate is now below one and Johnson said it would need to stay below one to avoid a second outbreak and a potential return to full lockdown after it is eased.
A video was played at the press conference to explain the reproduction rate.
The video said: “In March, at its peak, r was around three which seems to be the natural rate for this virus.
“Since then, thanks to you and the social distancing measures you’ve followed we’ve been able to reduce r and this is now below one.
“But we’ve only just passed the peak of the virus and it’s vital r stays below one.
“The government will be monitoring r very carefully, it will be a key factor in how social distancing measures are used in the future.”
Johnson also announced that the UK administered 81,611 coronavirus tests yesterday, bringing the country close to the government’s target of 100,000 tests by today.
Health secretary Matt Hancock is expected to announce if the UK has hit the target which he himself set at the start of the month.