Boris Johnson Back To Work After Coronavirus Sickness, Warns Businesses To Stay Shut For Now

TOPLINE

U.K. prime minister Boris Johnson returned to work on Monday after recovering from a severe bout of coronavirus, but urged British businesses to “contain their impatience” as he warned lockdown restrictions must remain to prevent a more damaging second spike.

KEY FACTS

Key background

Like many European nations, the U.K. is battling its biggest crisis since World War Two. Leading scientific experts, including medical researcher Sir Jeremy Farrar, have warned that the U.K. is on track to become the worst hit country in Europe as the number of deaths being recorded each day remains higher than hard-hit countries such as Spain and Italy. The government is counting only hospital deaths in its daily figures, but that number is significantly higher when deaths in nursing homes, hospices and at home are included.

Johnson was slow to order businesses to close and people to stay at home, but eventually activated a lockdown on March 23, after a projection from Imperial College London suggested that a partial lockdown would still result in hundreds of thousands of deaths. But the government’s delay has been exacerbated by a shortfall in testing and a lack of PPE for frontline staff. Despite calls from the opposition, the government has so far refused to detail its exit plan from the lockdown.

Crucial quote

Johnson said: “I want to get the economy moving as fast as I can, but I refuse to throw away all the effort and the sacrifice of the British people and to risk a second major outbreak, huge loss of life, and the overwhelming of the NHS. I ask you to contain your impatience because I believe we are coming to the end of the first phase of this conflict.”

As of Monday, the U.K. has counted 154,000 infections and nearly 21,000 deaths linked to coronavirus.

Further reading

U.K. Leadership Faces Questions As Prime Minister Boris Johnson Receives Oxygen Support (Forbes)

Britain’s Bold Bet To Protect Jobs From Coronavirus Could Cost $50 Billion (Forbes)

Boris Johnson Announces Unprecedented 3-Week Lockdown Of The Entire United Kingdom (Forbes)

Europe’s Comeback Tracker: You Can Now Get A Tattoo In Denmark And Buy Books In Italy As Countries Gradually Reopen (Forbes)

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