The prime minister has said Britain is ‘past the peak’ of the coronavirus outbreak.

Boris Johnson confirmed ‘for the first time’ that the country is ‘past the peak and we are on the downward slope.’

Speaking at the daily Covid-19 briefing this evening, he added: ‘We have come through the peak, or rather, we have come under what could have been a vast peak, as though we have been going through some huge alpine tunnel.

‘And we can now see the sunlight and the pasture ahead of us and so it is vital that we do not now lose control and run slap into a second and even bigger mountain.’

It came as the PM said 81,000 tests had been carried out yesterday, with the government straining to hit its 100,000 target for tests today.

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Returning to the press conference for the first time since testing positive for the disease and his fiancée giving birth to a baby boy, the prime minister added: ‘We have so far succeeded in the first and most important task we set ourselves as a nation – to avoid the tragedy that engulfed other parts of the world because at no stage has our NHS been overwhelmed.’

The UK death total today hit 26, 711 including those in care homes – making it one of the world’s worst-hit countries.

Mr Johnson continued: ‘So to avoid that disaster (of the NHS being overwhelmed), our fifth and final test is that nothing, as I say, we do should lift the ‘R’, or the reproduction rate, of that disease above 1.’

An ‘R’ of one means that each person who contracts the disease infects one other person – anything above that amount can lead to exponential growth, while staying below that amount leads to a decrease in cases.

Mr Johnson continued: ‘Keeping the reproduction rate of the disease down is going to be absolutely vital to our recovery, and we can only do it by our collective discipline and working together.

‘I know we can do it because we’ve shown we can do it, in phase one of this disease.

‘This country came together in a way few of us have seen in our lifetimes to protect the NHS and save lives, and that’s why I am absolutely convinced we can do it in phase two as well.’

This is a breaking story – more to follow.

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