British Health Secretary Matt Hancock expressed cautious optimism Monday about the COVID-19 outbreak in that country, but said the government is sticking with its lockdown restrictions to continue “flattening the curve.”
Speaking at a news briefing in London, Hancock said the nation is coming through a peak in the outbreak but said it would “count for nothing if we let things slip now and risk a second peak.” He urged citizens to have the resolve to see it through.
Hancock reported Britain had recorded 4,310 new cases since Sunday, and 360 fatalities, bringing the total number of COVID-19 deaths to 21,092. While that is the lowest daily death toll in a month, it makes Britain the fifth country in the world to surpass 20,000 deaths.
Britain’s Chief Medical officer Chris Whitty offered more caution at the briefing, saying the pandemic “has got a very long way to run,” and things “could go in a lot of different ways.”
