UK PM Boris Johnson may return to work on Monday post beating Covid; claims 'Raring to go'

Britain's prime minister Boris Johnson will return to work on Monday after his recovery from Coronavirus, according to reports on Sunday. This comes after UK's coronavirus death toll reached 20,000. The Press Association of UK said Johnson would be back in his Downing Street office on Monday after himself recovering from the virus. Another news channel quoted sources and said the 55-year-old was "raring to go". 

READ | MHA allows intra-state movement of asymptomatic migrant labourers after COVID-19 screening

After contracting the virus, Johnson spent three days in intensive care. The prime minister's return to work comes as pressure intensifies on his government over its handling of the crisis. Health department figures released Saturday showed official number of fatalities due to Covid-19 to be at 20,319.

READ | UK: Boris Johnson aide attended key science meetings on virus

Covid-19 outbreak in UK 

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who led the daily Downing Street briefing to provide the latest figures, said there were some "tentative signs" that Britain is making progress in its efforts to control the spread of the deadly virus as the number of hospitalisations continued their downward trajectory. "The main reason is the way Britain has responded to the guidelines to stay at home and maintain social distancing," said the Cabinet minister. "It isn't over, we're riding perhaps, we hope, a downward trend but it is by no means, no means established yet," he said.

READ | Nurse talks about his experience treating British Prime Minister Boris Johnson

He went on to announce a series of packages related to transport and trade, including a transport support unit dedicated to fighting the pandemic. The measures include a trilateral agreement with France and Ireland committed to keeping freight open throughout the crisis for trade of food, medicines and other essential items, protecting ferry routes with funding of up to GBP 17 million and 26 freight routes with the rest of Europe to be protected.

The minister said there is "spare capacity" because of a reduced transport service during the lockdown, with around 9,000 vehicles available to help in the fight against the virus and would be deployed to distribute packages to the vulnerable. There will also be a review into how drones might be used to deliver medical supplies, he said. The minister was questioned by reporters about the government's website set up for key workers to be able to book swab tests for the novel coronavirus, which shut down within hours of going live on Friday.

He stressed that the site had not crashed but had reached full capacity when it stopped taking further bookings. "It looks like the trajectory for more than 100,000 by the end of April will be met in terms of capacity," he insisted, in reference to the government's target set for testing people for Covid-19 in an effort to gradually ease the lockdown in place to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.

(inputs from PTI, AP)

READ | UK PM Boris Johnson to talk to Trump, meet Queen as he recovers from COVID-19