British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says his government will outline plans for an easing of the coronavirus lockdown in the coming days but he's warned that difficult judgments will be required.
"We simply cannot spell out now how fast or slow or even when those changes will be made, though clearly, the government will be saying much more about this in the coming days," Mr Johnson said outside his Downing Street office on Monday.
"I want to serve notice now that these decisions will be taken with the maximum possible transparency and I want to share all our working and our thinking, my thinking, with you the British people.
"Of course we will be relying as ever on the science to inform us, as we have from the beginning."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street before making a speech as he returns to work following his recovery from Covid-19 Source: Getty Images
Mr Johnson, who spent days in intensive care in hospital after he was infected with the virus, said the country was coming "to the end of the first phase of this conflict".
"We must also recognise the risk of a second spike, the risk of losing control of that virus and letting the reproduction rate go back over one because that would mean not only a new wave of death and disease but also an economic disaster," he said.
Mr Johnson compared the disease to a street criminal that the British people had wrestled to the floor.
He said he understood the concerns of businesses struggling due to the pandemic, but was quick to stress there would be no swift lifting of the lockdown.
"We must also recognise the risk of a second spike, the risk of losing control of that virus and letting the reproduction rate go back over one," he said.
"Because that would mean not only a new wave of death and disease but also an economic disaster."
Mr Johnson also thanked Britons for abiding by the lockdown.
"Every day I know that this virus brings new sadness and mourning to households across the land and it is still true that this is the biggest single challenge this country has faced since the war," he said.
Opposition Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer urged Mr Johnson to explain how an economic and social lockdown might be eased.
"Simply acting as if this discussion is not happening is not credible," Mr Starmer wrote in a letter to the prime minister.
Britain passed the grim milestone of more than 20,000 COVID-19 deaths on Saturday as the daily toll rose 813 to 20,319 people who tested positive for the illness and died in hospital.
The figure does not include those who have died in aged care homes.
Back in mid-March the government's chief scientific adviser said that keeping the death toll below 20,000 would be a "good outcome".
One expert suggested the numbers could now double that tally before the outbreak was brought under control in Britain.
