LONDON
(AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is returning to work after
recovering from a coronavirus infection that put him in intensive care,
with his government facing growing criticism over the deaths and
disruption the virus has caused.
Johnson’s
office said he would be back at his desk in 10 Downing St. on Monday,
two weeks after he was released from a London hospital. Foreign
Secretary Dominic Raab, who has been standing in for the prime minister,
said Sunday that Johnson was “raring to go.”
Britain
has recorded more than 20,000 deaths among people hospitalized with
COVID-19, the fifth country in the world to reach that total. Thousands
more are thought to have died in nursing homes.
Johnson,
55, spent a week at St. Thomas’ Hospital, including three nights in
intensive care, where he was given oxygen and watched around the clock
by medical workers. After he was released on April 12, he recorded a
video message thanking staff at the hospital for saving his life.
Johnson has not been seen in public since, as he recovered at Chequers, the prime minister’s country retreat outside London.
Opposition
politicians say Britain’s coronavirus death toll could have been lower
if Johnson’s Conservative government had imposed a nationwide lockdown
sooner. They are also demanding to know when and how the government will ease the restrictions that were imposed March 23 and run to at least May 7.
“Decisions
need to be taken quicker and communication with the public needs to be
clearer,” opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said in a letter
to Johnson.
“The
British public have made great sacrifices to make the lockdown work,”
he wrote. “They deserve to be part of an adult conversation about what
comes next.”
Despite
the toll, which saw another 813 virus-related deaths announced
Saturday, some in Britain are growing impatient with the restrictions,
which have brought much of the economy
and daily life to a halt. Road traffic has begun to creep up after
plummeting when the lockdown first was imposed, and some businesses have
begun to reopen after implementing social-distancing measures.
Scientists
say the U.K. has reached the peak of the pandemic but is not yet out of
danger. The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 is declining
and the number of daily deaths peaked on April 8.
But
with hundreds of new deaths announced each day, some health experts say
Britain could eventually have the highest virus death toll in Europe.
As
fears recede that the health system will be overwhelmed, opponents are
criticizing Johnson’s government over shortages of protective equipment
for medical workers and a lack of testing for the virus. More than 100 infected medical workers have died so far.
The government has promised to conduct 100,000 coronavirus tests
a day by the end of the month, but has yet to reach even 30,000 a day.
Increasing testing, so that all people with the virus can be identified
and their contacts traced and isolated, is key to loosening the
lockdown.
The
British government says all health care staff and other essential
workers can be tested if they show symptoms. It is rolling out almost
100 mobile testing sites, staffed by soldiers, to conduct tests at
nursing homes, police stations, prisons and other sites.
In the first two days of expanded testing, however, the online system handling daily demand for the tests had exceeded the supply by early morning.
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