LONDON 27 Apr (ANA) - Boris Johnson today faced down his own MPs and a restless public by insisting the UK's coronavirus lockdown must go on.

 

The Prime Minister said the nation is starting to "wrestle" the "invisible mugger" that is Covid-19 "to the floor" - adding: "We are beginning to turn the tide".

 

But he shot down claims he would spell out an exit plan as early as this week - saying now is the time of "maximum risk".

 

Mr Johnson said social distancing must go on, otherwise the nation would risk "not only a new wave of death and disease, but also an economic disaster".

 

That, he said, would force the UK to "slam on the brakes" with a nationwide second lockdown.

 

He added: "I refuse to throw away all the effort and the sacrifice of the British people and risk a second major outbreak and huge loss of life and the overwhelming of the NHS."

 

Today's surprise statement was his first public appearance outside 10 Downing Street for almost a month - and his first public appearance of any kind for around two weeks.

 

Mr Johnson claimed the UK has managed to have "apparent success" despite more than 20,000 deaths in hospital - and many more in care homes and other places around the country.

 

The death toll is one of the highest of any country in the world.

 

But "we are coming now to the end of the first phase of this conflict," Mr Johnson claimed - thanks to the "forbearance, good sense, altruism, and spirit of community" of the British people.

 

He said the UK was "making progress" with "real signs now that we are passing through the peak", and did not run out of ventilators or intensive care beds.

He added: "Thanks to our collective national resolve, we are on the brink of achieving that first clear mission - to prevent our NHS from being overwhelmed in a way that tragically we have seen elsewhere.

 

"And that is how and why we are now beginning to turn the tide."

 

Yet Mr Johnson resisted mounting calls from his own party and the business world to relax some elements of the UK lockdown.

The law says he must formally review the lockdown by May 7, next Thursday, with some reports today suggesting he could move sooner.

 

Mr Johnson hinted there may be some kind of announcement, saying: "The government will be saying much more about this in the coming days."

 

But officials have made clear the lockdown will not simply end - when it is eased, it will only be relaxed in some ways and not others.(ANA)

FA/ANA/27 April 2020----