COVID-19 outbreak: Queen Elizabeth to deliver rare televised address on April 5

As coronavirus cases and fatalities in UK continue to witness dramatic spike for consecutive days, Queen Elizabeth II will speak to the UK and the Commonwealth on April 5 (local time). While the world battles the unprecedented outbreak of coronavirus, Queen will address the nation only the fourth time in her 68-year-old reign. Buckingham Palace has said that the message by the 93-year-old has been recorded at Windsor Castle, where she is practising social distancing, and it will be broadcasted on television and radio at 20:00 BST. 

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Even though Queen is known to record messages for British citizens during Christmas, annually, other messages have been deemed rare. The royal announcement came as the UK recorded 684 deaths and over 4,000 new cases of coronavirus in just last 24 hours. In Scotland, according to reports, the number of deaths has risen by 46, while in Wales 24 more people have died of COVID-19 infection. Previously, Queen has made such rare addresses only three times. The most recent one was after Queen’s mother’s demise in 2002, ahead of Princess of Wales Diana’s funeral in 1997 and the first was during the First Gulf War in 1991. The Queen even made a televised address to mark Diamond Jubilee of her leadership in 2012.

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Coronavirus outbreak

After originating from China’s “wet markets”, the coronavirus has now claimed over 55,163 lives worldwide as of April 3. According to the tally by international news agency, the pandemic has now spread to 204 countries and has infected at least 1,039,158 people. Out of the total infections, 220,076 have been recovered but the easily spread virus is continuing to disrupt many lives. Major cities have been put under lockdown in almost all countries and the economy is struggling. 

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Image Source: AP