Coronavirus: UK PM Boris Johnson returns to work, addresses public after recovering from virus

LONDON — Weeks after he tested positive for the novel coronavirus and was treated at a London hospital, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has returned to work.

Addressing reporters Monday morning outside 10 Downing St., Johnson, 55, asked the public to be patient as the country’s lockdown restrictions, which are slated for review May 7, continue.

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“I’m sorry I’ve been away from my desk for much longer than I would have liked, and I want to thank everybody who has stepped up,” he began before thanking Secretary of State Dominic Raab, who has been filling in for him, and the public for the “sheer grit and guts” they’ve shown in the face of the pandemic.

>> Click here to watch the full address

″This is the biggest single challenge this country has faced since the war, and I in no way minimize the continuing problems we face," Johnson said. “And yet it is also true that we are making progress – fewer hospital admissions, fewer COVID patients in ICU and real signs now that we are passing through the peak.”

The United Kingdom is “beginning to turn the tide,” he added.

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“If this virus were a physical assailant, an unexpected and invisible mugger – which I can tell you from personal experience it is – then this is the moment when we have begun together to wrestle it to the floor,” Johnson said.

But although he described this moment as an “opportunity,” he cautioned that the country is also currently facing “maximum risk."

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”I know that there will be many people looking now at our apparent success and beginning to wonder whether now is the time to go easy on those social-distancing measures," Johnson said. “And I know how hard and how stressful it has been to give up, even temporarily, those ancient and basic freedoms. ... So let me say directly also to British businesses, to the shopkeepers, to the entrepreneurs, to the hospitality sector, to everyone on whom our economy depends: I understand your impatience. I share your anxiety.”

However, he said, people “must also recognize the risk of a second spike.”

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“That would mean not only a new wave of death and disease, but also an economic disaster, and we would be forced once again to slam on the brakes across the whole country and the whole economy,” Johnson warned.

According to the BBC, Johnson tested positive for COVID-19 last month and was hospitalized April 5. His weeklong hospital stay included three nights in the ICU, The Associated Press reported.

As of Monday morning, the U.K. had reported at least 154,037 confirmed coronavirus cases and 20,795 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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