Johnson: UK ‘past the peak’ of outbreak but must be cautious

LONDON (AP) — Britain is past the peak of its coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Thursday, as he promised to reveal a “road map” out of national lockdown — but not yet.

Appearing at a news conference for the first time since he fell seriously ill with the virus a month ago, Johnson said “we’re past the peak and we are on the downward slope.”

The number of hospital admissions and people in intensive care with COVID-19 are now falling, and deaths are increasing less sharply than in early April.

And, crucially, the disease’s reproduction rate — the number of people each person with the virus infects — is now below 1. Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance said it was between 0.6 and 0.9 in different parts of the UK.

As other European countries begin to reopen businesses and schools, Johnson is under pressure to reveal when and how the government will ease a nationwide lockdown that was imposed on March 23.

The restrictions are due to last at least until May 7.

Johnson said he would set out a “comprehensive plan” next week about steps to restart the economy, reopen schools and get people back to work.

In an apparent change in government policy, he said that face coverings will be “useful” in the next stage of the crisis, for both epidemiological reasons and to give confidence to those returning to work.

However, he stressed that any changes would be gradual.

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