UK to remain in lockdown as coronavirus deaths rise above 11,000
By Administrator_India
The death toll from COVID-19 in British hospitals rose to 11,329 on Monday and the government, which is having to operate without its convalescing leader Boris Johnson, signaled that there would be no easing of lockdown measures this week.
The British death toll is the fifth-highest globally and a senior scientific adviser to the government has said the country risks becoming the worst-hit in Europe.
The government has had to defend its response to the outbreak, with complaints of insufficient testing and protective kit for medics and questions about whether Johnson, before he fell ill with COVID-19, was too slow to impose a lockdown.
“Amidst this sobering death toll, there are also some positive signs from the data that we are starting to win this struggle,” said Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, deputizing for Johnson while he recovers.
“But we still have a long way to go,” Raab said. “We’re still not past the peak of this virus.”
The government’s panel of scientific advisers is due to review the evidence on the effectiveness of social distancing measures this week, but Raab signaled that it was unlikely to result in any easing of restrictions.
“We don’t expect to make any changes to the measures currently in place at that point, and we won’t until we’re confident as we realistically can be, that any such changes can be safely made.”
Johnson left London’s St Thomas’ Hospital on Sunday after spending a week there, including three nights in intensive care. He said “things could have gone either way” for him while he was hospitalized.
He is now recuperating at Chequers, his official country residence, with his pregnant fiancee Carrie Symonds. It is not clear when he will return to work.
There has been widespread sympathy for him over his illness, but in his absence the government faces daunting trade-offs between the needs of the health service and of the economy, with national morale also at stake.
Finance minister Rishi Sunak has told colleagues Gross Domestic Product could shrink by up to 30% this quarter because of the coronavirus lockdown, The Times newspaper reported, adding Sunak was pushing for restrictions to be eased.
The comments were neither confirmed nor denied by officials.
