Updated April 6th, 2020 at 14:16 IST
Boris Johnson continues to lead govt despite being hospitalised, says UK Minister
UK Housing Minister said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will continue to lead the government after getting hospitalised due to persistent COVID-19 symptoms.
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UK Housing Minister said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will continue to lead the government after getting hospitalised due to persistent symptoms of COVID-19. Speaking to BBC, Robert Jenrick said that Johnson has been leading the government and working “extremely hard” which is going to continue.
Wishing the Prime Minister a speedy recovery. Look forward to seeing him back in @10DowningStreet very soon.
— Robert Jenrick (@RobertJenrick) April 5, 2020
Johnson had tested positive for the novel coronavirus on March 27 and went into self-quarantine after the diagnosis. However, persistent symptoms of the disease forced the British Prime Minister to get hospitalised as a precautionary measure, said Downing Street.
The Conservative leader has been facing backlash for an alleged laid-back approach towards the pandemic which has made the UK one of the worst-hit countries around the world with over 47,000 cases of coronavirus and 4,934 deaths due to the infection. The COVID-19 outbreak has spiralled out in Britain and the National Health Service (NHS) workers are bearing the brunt of resource crunch.
Read: Boris Johnson's Fiancee Carrie Symonds Recovering From Coronavirus
New five-point plan
After severe backlash over the response of COVID-19, the government announced that NHS will carry out 100,000 tests for coronavirus every day by the end of the month. In the new range of measures to combat the crisis, the Prime Minister’s Office said that the government has a new 5-point plan to improve testing of coronavirus.
“We are writing off NHS debt as part of a major financial reset for NHS providers,” said Downing Street.
Read: COVID-19: UK PM Boris Johnson Urges Citizens To Stay At Home Even In 'fine Weather'
Under the 5-point plan announced by Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, said that mass swab testing for critical workers, mass antibody testing and surveillance testing will be included. The Department of Health and Social Care outlined the ambition to scale-up swab testing in PHE labs and NHS hospitals for those with a medical need and the most critical workers to 25,000 a day by mid to late April.
“Once widespread testing is available, we will prioritise repeated testing of critical key workers, to keep them safe and make sure that they do not spread the virus,” the department added.
Read: COVID-19: Johnson Urges People To Stay Home As UK Records Highest Single-day Death Toll
Read: COVID-19: UK PM Boris Johnson Admitted To Hospital After Showing Persistent Symptoms
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Published April 6th, 2020 at 14:16 IST
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