Virus-stricken Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted Sunday he owed his medical team his “life” as Britain braced to pass the grim milestone of 10,000 hospital deaths from COVID-19
The country is now seeing death tolls to match Europe’s hardest-hit nations Italy and Spain after recording nearly 1,000 daily fatalities in each of the last two days.
The actual figure, amid hopes of hitting a peak, may be far higher as the count does not include those who have died in care homes and the community.
Britain’s tally of confirmed cases has climbed close to 80,000, but that is thought to be only a snapshot of the true level of infections due to limited testing for the virus.
Johnson, who spent three days in intensive care this week after contracting COVID-19, praised staff treating him in a state-run hospital.
“I can’t thank them enough. I owe them my life,” he said, in a first public statement since being moved out of intensive care at London’s St Thomas’ Hospital on Thursday.
The 55-year-old leader has since been making “very good progress” in his recovery and able to take short walks between periods of rest, according to Downing Street.
However, it remains unclear when he might be discharged from hospital and how quickly he would return to work once out.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has been deputising for Johnson.
The prime minister’s spokesman has stressed that his recovery is “at an early stage” and he would act only “on the advice of his medical team”
It is also uncertain when Britain might be able to lift stringent social distancing measures rolled out on March 23.
Implemented for an initial three weeks, the lockdown is set for a formal review next week and likely to remain in place until at least the end of the month.
Queen Elizabeth II urged Britons to keep staying home, in what is believed to be her first pre-recorded Easter address, released by Buckingham Palace on Saturday evening
