Wed | Apr 8, 2026

UK sees almost 1,000 new virus deaths; Johnson improving

Published:Saturday | April 11, 2020 | 12:19 AM
In this file photo dated Tuesday, March 17, 2020, Britain’s Chancellor Rishi Sunak (left) and Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrive for a press briefing about the ongoing situation with the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, inside 10 Downing Street in London. Johnson has been hospitalised and is said to be recovering from the coronavirus.
AP photo
In this file photo dated Tuesday, March 17, 2020, Britain’s Chancellor Rishi Sunak (left) and Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrive for a press briefing about the ongoing situation with the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, inside 10 Downing Street in London. Johnson has been hospitalised and is said to be recovering from the coronavirus.

LONDON (AP):

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson needs time to recover from the new coronavirus and is unlikely to be back at work soon, his father said on Friday, as millions of Britons began an Easter holiday weekend in lockdown and the UK recorded almost 1,000 more COVID-19 deaths than the day before.

Britain’s official death toll of people with the coronavirus leapt by 980 Friday to 8,958 – a bigger daily increase than was seen in Italy and Spain, the two European countries with the greatest number of fatalities. Italy recorded a high of 969 deaths on March 27 and Spain 950 deaths on April 2.

The figures may not be directly comparable, however. The UK deaths reported each day occurred over several days or even weeks, and the total only includes deaths in hospitals.

Johnson, 55, spent three nights in the intensive care unit at St Thomas’ Hospital in London after his COVID-19 symptoms worsened. He was moved back to a regular ward on Thursday evening, and his office said he was in “the early phase of his recovery.”

On Friday, Johnson’s Downing Street office said he was able to take “short walks” between periods of rest and had spoken to his doctors to thank them “for the incredible care he has received.”