Still unexplained
The hunt for the origins of Covid-19 has for the past four years been a tangled web of politics, power struggles, and international finger-pointing.
UK Prime minister Boris Johnson on Thursday said that the country “past the peak” of its coronavirus outbreak, despite recording another 674 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 26,711.
The country is now the third-most affected in the world behind the United States and Italy on cumulative deaths, after changing its reporting to include community as well as hospital deaths on Wednesday.
Johnson returned to work in Downing Street on Monday but missed Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday following the birth of his son.
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“For the first time, we are past the peak of this disease… and we are on the downward slope,” he told reporters.
“We are coming through the peak or rather we are coming over what could have been a vast peak, as though we have been going through some huge Alpine tunnel.
“And we can now see the sunlight and the pastures ahead of us. So it’s vital that we don’t now lose control and run slap into a second and even bigger mountain.”
He said a “roadmap” would be published next week about the government’s plan to ease restrictions, after concerns about the economic effect of the social distancing measures.
“The dates and times of each individual measure will be very much driven by where we are in the epidemic,” he added.
The ongoing nationwide lockdown imposed on March 23, is due to be reviewed on May 7.
Earlier this week, Johnson said the lockdown would not be relaxed too soon and details on any changes would be set out over the “coming days”.
PM Johnson was admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital on the advice of his doctor, after continuing to have a cough and high temperature 10 days after testing positive for the virus.
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