At his daily press conference The Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that after the 12-week period, science will be able to help the UK to fight coronavirus.
He has announced that the first British person with coronavirus is undergoing a trial for a new drug and that randomised tests for vaccines will start within a month.
He added that the UK will be buying an antibodies test that will be able to tell if people have had coronavirus and that if it works, the UK will buy hundreds of thousands of these. If people know they have had this, this can go back to work, because they are less likely to get it again or infect people.
Johnson was asked whether because half the deaths had been in London whether he would go further with measures in the capital.He answered that Johnson there was some evidence that in some parts of London compliance with the social distancing rules is “patchy” and that the government may have to go further but reeiterated that he wouldn’t shut the transport network down.
The Government’s Chief Medical Officer Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser then added that even if everyone does what the government is advising, the numbers will still go up for the next fortnight as even if the social distancing measures work, there will be a time lag.
Later in the press conference, asked if we could return to our normal lives in twelve weeks, the Prime Minister replied that at the moment the disease does not seem yet to be responding to the interventions. A combination of the measures taken by the public and better testing will enable us to turn the tide, but he added that he could not say say that by the end of June we will be on a downward slope.
