British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is getting back to work after battling a coronavirus infection that recently put him in intensive care.
Johnson’s office said he will be back at his desk in 10 Downing St. on Monday, two weeks after he being released from a London hospital.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who has been filling in for the prime minister, says that Johnson is “raring to go.”
Britain has recorded 20,732 deaths among people hospitalized with COVID-19, making it the fifth country in the world to surpass 20,000 deaths.
The 55-year-old Johnson spent a week at St. Thomas’ Hospital, including three nights in intensive care, where he was given oxygen and monitored by medical workers.
He was last seen publicly through a video message he released thanking the hospital’s staff after leaving the hospital on April 12.
Johnson continued his recovered at Chequers, the prime minister’s country retreat outside London.
It is hard to find the words to express my debt to the NHS for saving my life.
The efforts of millions of people across this country to stay home are worth it. Together we will overcome this challenge, as we have overcome so many challenges in the past. #StayHomeSaveLives pic.twitter.com/HK7Ch8BMB5
— Boris Johnson #StayHomeSaveLives (@BorisJohnson) April 12, 2020
Meanwhile, the U.K. announced 413 more virus-related deaths on Sunday.
Opposition politicians argue that Britain’s 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 Johnson’s government will ease the restrictions that were imposed March 23 and are scheduled to run through at least May 7.
However, Raab says there will be no major sudden change to the restrictions.
“We won’t just have this binary easing up of measures. We will end up moving to a new normal,” he told the BBC. “We need to take a sure-footed step forward which protects life but also preserves our way of life. So we are very focused on doing the homework that can allow us to do that.”
Scientists say the U.K. has reached the peak of the pandemic but is not yet completely out of danger.
The number of people hospitalized there with COVID-19 is declining, and the number of daily deaths peaked on April 8.
Still, with hundreds of new deaths being announced each day, some health experts believe that Britain could eventually have the highest virus death toll from coronavirus in Europe.