Index – Abroad – Boris Johnson: We have passed the peak of the epidemic

Britain has passed the peak of the coronavirus epidemic, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Thursday at a press conference, the BBC writes.

Johnson has been holding his first press player since he recovered from a coronavirus infection and returned to work on Monday. In a briefing session after the government meeting, he said 674 people had died from the virus in the past 24 hours, bringing the number of victims of the epidemic in the country to 26,711. A total of 81,000 coronavirus tests have been conducted in the last day, which is by far the most tests since the outbreak. His goal is to be able to run hundreds of thousands of tests a day in late April.

Next week, the British government will begin to develop a plan to relaunch the economy and open schools. At the same time, Johnson says they need to start all of this with caution, as premature relief can increase the number of illnesses again. In doing so, they will be based on the opinions of scientists and experts, and all decisions will be made only after full political consensus.

Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said the breeding rate (R0) could be between 0.6 and 0.9 in Britain, depending on the region.