The UK is finally "past the peak" of the coronavirus outbreak, Boris Johnson has confirmed. The Prime Minister made the statement in Thursday's press conference, the first since he was discharged from hospital having been treated for Covid-19 himself. "We are on a downward slope," he told media, adding that at no stage has the NHS been overwhelmed.
Science and health experts have stressed the importance of passing through a "peak" in infection cases before social distancing measures can be eased.
Mr Johnson says the UK can now say it has achieved this. Brits have avoided an "uncontrollable and catastrophic" epidemic, but Mr Johnson said the UK cannot relax its defences yet and will have to continue to beat the virus "by our resolve and