UK’s Boris Johnson warns ‘this is the moment of maximum risk’ as government plans exit strategy

The U.K.’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there would be no quick lifting of restrictions in the country, as he made his first public statement since returning to work after recovering from a coronavirus infection.

“We are passing through the peak,” Johnson said “We are on the brink of achieving that first great mission, to prevent our National Health Service (NHS) from being overwhelmed,” he said, adding that the country was “beginning to turn the tide” against the outbreak.

While he said he recognized the urgency of lifting lockdown measures as soon as possible, he warned that “this is the moment of maximum risk” as he asked the public to contain their “impatience” with regards to the lockdown.

“There will be time to refine the restrictions and to fire up the engines of the economy,” Johnson said outside Downing Street, but he added “we cannot say when those changes will be made.”

He thanked the British public for their “grits and guts” during the crisis, and Foreign Minister Dominic Raab who has deputized for him while he was recovering from a serious coronavirus infection.

Boris Johnson last made a public statement on Easter Sunday after he was released from hospital. In his video statement, he personally thanked the NHS for saving his life.

Johnson has returned to his office and residence in Downing Street, central London after spending two weeks at his country residence Chequers following a serious coronavirus infection that saw him admitted to intensive care.

There has been speculation that Johnson could announce plans to start lifting the U.K.’s lockdown as early as this week. This would be ahead of the May 7 date when measures were next set to be reviewed.

The U.K. has 154,037 reported cases of Covid-19 as of Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University data, and has reported 20,795 deaths – a number that is steadily increasing and could end up overtaking the death tolls seen in Italy (26,644 deaths) and Spain (23,190 deaths), the worst hit countries in Europe.

Still, Italy, Spain and Germany have slowly started to lift coronavirus restrictions; Italy and Germany have allowed smaller retail stores to re-open and Spain has allowed manufacturing and construction businesses to reopen. For the first time in six weeks, children in Spain were allowed to exercise outside this weekend.

Public support for the government’s handling of the crisis, which was strong at the start of the coronavirus outbreak, is starting to wane. An Opinium poll for the leftwing Observer newspaper published Sunday showed that approval of the government’s handling of the crisis has decreased to 51% (from 57% the previous week), while 57% disapproved of the coronavirus testing plan so far, up from 48% on April 7.

UK’s Boris Johnson warns ‘this is the moment of maximum risk’ as government plans exit strategy, CNBC, Apr 27