LONDON, April 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Boris Johnson has said he owes his life to the NHS staff treating him for coronavirus.
The prime minister, 55, thanked medics at St Thomas’ hospital in London, where he continues to recover after spending three nights in intensive care.
It comes as UK deaths from the virus are expected to pass 10,000 on Sunday.
On Saturday, the UK recorded 917 new coronavirus deaths, taking total hospital deaths to 9,875.
Ministers are continuing to urge people to stay at home over the Easter weekend to curb the spread of the virus, despite warm and sunny weather across parts of the UK.
In his first public statement since being moved out of intensive care on Thursday, Johnson paid tribute to the medics treating him, saying: “I can’t thank them enough. I owe them my life.”
Speaking as she led the government’s daily coronavirus briefing on Saturday, Home Secretary Priti Patel said the PM needed “time and space to rest, recuperate and recover”.
Meanwhile, a cross-party group of MPs and peers has demanded Parliament is urgently recalled in a virtual form – using video links and digital voting – so the government can be held accountable during the crisis.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has requested urgent talks with Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg and Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to discuss Parliament resuming on April 21 so ministers can be questioned directly.
He said the Labour Party supported “many of the measures” implemented by the government but set out a list of questions that “need to be answered”.
They include clarity over an exit strategy from the current lockdown, answers over the “ramping up of testing”, and the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) for front-line NHS staff.
A spokeswoman for Rees-Mogg said Parliament would return on April 21 and technological solutions were being prepared for the government, Speaker and other parties to consider.
