Britain is past the peak of its coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted as he promised to reveal a "road map" out of national lockdown soon. Appearing at a news conference for the first time since he fell seriously ill with the virus a month ago, Mr Johnson said: "We're past the peak and we are on the downward slope." Crucially, the disease's reproduction rate - the number of people each person with the virus infects - is now below 1. Only the United States and Italy have higher tolls, though Mr Johnson stressed international comparisons were "very difficult". The country has seen the number of new cases drop below 100 for the past eight consecutive days, and the number of active cases has also been declining.

Source: Irish Independent May 01, 2020 01:39 UTC