PM Johnson returns to work

New testing site closes

LONDON, April 27, (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.

Public

“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.

Health

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.

Meanwhile, the British government’s new online system for “key workers” and their families to book appointments for coronavirus tests got off to an inauspicious start Friday.

Barely three hours after launching, the link stopped accepting applications for the day following “exceptional demand” and said more tests at drive-through sites and for home delivery will be made available Saturday. Around 10 million people could now potentially apply for a test.

Clicking on the link, aspiring applicants were greeted with the brief message: “Coronavirus test: capacity reached for today.”

In a tweet, the Department of Health and Social Care apologized for any inconvenience and said it is “continuing to rapidly increase availability.”

The self-referral site is a key element of the government’s plan to meet a target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month, and will likely play a big role in how lockdown restrictions, which are due to last until at least May 7, are lifted. For now, changes to the lockdown are not being considered given that the U.K.’s coronavirus-related death toll in hospitals is fast approaching 20,000 .

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office said that within two minutes of the portal’s opening, 5,000 home-testing kits had been ordered - the day’s capacity - and that another 15,000 slots at drive-through sites had also been snapped up. It said the aim is for 18,000 home tests available each day by next week with them arriving the following day and results sent back within 72 hours.