UK PM Boris Johnson will return to work in Downing Street on Monday after COVID-19 recovery

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Photo: AFP)


UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be back at work in Downing Street on Monday, about two weeks after leaving a London hospital in his fight against the novel coronavirus, according to the media report.

PM Johnson told his cabinet colleagues that he will be back to his normal schedule following his treatment in St. Thomas’ Hospital in London for COVID-19.

“He is ‘raring to go’ and will be back Monday,” Sky News noted, citing a Downing Street source.

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.

Johnson was back on his feet last week and took short walks between periods of rest, in what his office described as the early stage of recovery.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is also the first secretary of state, had been deputized by Johnson to carry out his duties during his illness.

Earlier in the day, the British Department of Health said that a further 813 people had died of COVID-19 as of 1600 GMT on Friday, bringing the death toll to 20,319 and making UK the fifth nation globally to pass the grim milestone of 20,000 deaths, after the United States, Italy, Spain and France.

On March 23, PM Johnson ordered the initial three-week lockdown to tackle the spread of the virus, shutting “non-essential” shops and services, and banning gatherings of more than two people.

A total of 148,377 people have now tested positive for the virus in the country, a jump of 4,913 in 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the worldwide death toll was at 201,907 as of Saturday afternoon, according to a tally compiled by John Hopkins University from government figures. The actual death toll is believed to be far higher.