Brits are being ordered to stay home this Easter bank holiday weekend with no end to the lockdown in sight.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: “We’re not done yet, we must keep going.”
He revealed Boris Johnson remains in intensive care but is taking ‘positive step forwards and is in good spirits,’ the nation has been told.
Mr Raab gave the lockdown orders and an update on the Prime Minister’s condition as he hosts today’s daily coronavirus press conference at Number 10.
Chief medical officer Chris Whitty said that early indications suggested the UK’s rise in Covid-19 cases may be ‘flattening.’
But the professor also warned that the UK’s death toll is expected to rise even after the number of cases coming into hospitals begins to subside.
He said: “In general I’d expect the deaths to continue to go up for about two weeks after the intensive care picture improves.
(Image: TWITTER/BORISJOHNSON via REUTERS)
“So we’re not there yet in terms of knowing exactly when that would be, but that’s the sort of timeframe I’d expect.
Meanwhile, Mr Raab told Brits the dramatic lockdown measures will have to stay in place until there’s strong evidence that it is working.
Mr Raab said: ”Let me be very clear about this – the measures will have to stay in place until we have got the evidence that clearly shows we’ve moved beyond the peak.”
He told how he usually spends Easter Weekend bank holiday with his own two children enjoying an easter egg hunt, and acknowledged most families around Britain would want to be holidaying and enjoying the sunshine.
“Unfortunately right now we just can’t do those sorts of things, and I’m really sorry about that.”
The PM today spent a fourth day in hospital, where he was being treated for coronavirus.
The PM was taken into intensive care (ICU) after his symptoms persisted, and he had to be put on oxygen at St Thomas’ Hospital in London.
Downing Street said he was taken into ICU as a precaution, adding that he had not required use of a ventilator.
Mr Johnson’s condition was yesterday described as ‘improving,’ as Chancellor Rishi Sunak told the nation the PM had been able to sit up in his hospital bed.
The latest update on the leader’s health comes as the UK’s coronavirus death toll figures edge closer to the tragic 8,000 mark.
In England, 765 more patients have died, while in Scotland 81 have passed away and 41 have died in Wales.
Earlier today, police warned the public that those who flout coronavirus lockdown rules over the Easter weekend will be shown no mercy.
The government are today holding a COBRA meeting to discuss extending the lockdown measures.
Ministers will receive the latest round of data next week which will be used to base their decision on whether there is an end in sight for the lockdown.
The measures are set to be reviewed by April 16 – but it has become increasingly clear they won’t be lifted anytime soon as the UK’s death toll marches upwards daily.
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