UK coronavirus: Boris Johnson too ‘frightened’ to ease lockdown

• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s near-fatal brush with COVID-19 has reportedly driven him to resist calls to lift lockdown measures.
• Several critics have argued that the continuing lockdown would only bring about “catastrophic” economic damage.
• But Johnson explained that relaxing the lockdown measures too soon would only allow a “second peak” of the deadly pandemic.

The United Kingdom’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, is reportedly still so “frightened” from his own near-fatal brush with COVID-19 that he has consistently resisted growing calls to reopen the country from lockdown.

The 55-year-old Prime Minister had to be treated in intensive care, where he had said that nurses “saved my life”. Now that he is recovering, he is facing criticism against the ongoing lockdown.

Former environment secretary Theresa Villiers cited fears of a “catastrophic” economic damage brought on by a longer lockdown period.

Even Oxford University science professor Carl Heneghan believes that continued closure of the country will be more damaging than the virus itself.

But according to the Times of London, sources say that the UK leader’s terrifying ordeal with the disease has driven him to insist that lifting lockdown measures is a “non-starter.”

A senior Tory MP reportedly told the UK paper, “The prime minister is in a funny place. I think he’s quite frightened.”

“His illness and the warning from the doctors has really hit him hard. To find himself floored like this has got into his head. He has become really tentative.”

The Prime Minister held a two-hour conference on Friday to discuss the matter with his senior cabinet colleagues. Johnson explained that his “overriding concern” is that relaxing the lockdown measures too soon would only allow a “second peak” of the deadly pandemic, the UK Times said.

Johnson was still officially on leave when he held the video meeting. He is currently recovering from his serious illness at Chequers, the official country residence for the UK’s prime ministers.

A government source informed the paper, “The idea that we will be rushing to lift measures is a non-starter. If the transmission rate rises significantly, we will have to do a harder lockdown again.”

The novel coronavirus has infected more than 125,000 and killed 16,550 in the UK as of Tuesday afternoon.

Source: New York Post