The UK is past the peak of the coronavirus and “on the downward slope" of the curve, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has declared as he briefed the public for the first team since returning to work earlier this week.
He told a daily press conference there had been another 674 deaths from Covid-19 recorded, taking the overall toll to 26,711.
“We grieve for them and with them, but as we grieve, we are strengthened in our resolve to defeat the virus," said Mr Johnson, whose partner gave birth to a baby boy on Wednesday.
The government has been under intense pressure to set out how it sought to ease a nationwide lockdown, which has been in place since late March.
Mr Johnson said next week he and his team will publish a “comprehensive plan” on how they plan to re-start the economy, re-open schools and get the general public back to work.
"We have come through the peak. We have come under what could have been vast huge Alpine tunnel and now we see the sunlight in the pasture ahead of us,” he said.
"It is vital we do not now lose control and run into second and bigger mountain."
Mr Johnson spent three nights in intensive care after contracting the coronavirus.
