LONDON • British Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned to work yesterday after recovering from Covid-19 with a warning that it was still too dangerous to relax a stringent lockdown hammering the economy, for fear of a deadly second outbreak.

Looking healthy, Mr Johnson compared the disease to an invisible street criminal whom Britons were wrestling to the floor.

“If we can show the same spirit of unity and determination as we’ve all shown in the past six weeks, then I have absolutely no doubt that we will beat it,” the 55-year-old said outside his Downing Street home a month and a day after testing positive.

“I ask you to contain your impatience because I believe we are coming now to the end of the first phase of this conflict, and in spite of all the suffering, we have so nearly succeeded.”

With unemployment soaring, many companies crippled and a recession looming, Mr Johnson said he understood the concerns of business and would consult with opposition parties pressing for clarity on a pathway out of lockdown.

But with Britain suffering one of the world’s highest death tolls – 20,732 hospital deaths reported as of last Saturday – he stressed that it was still a time of maximum risk and there would be no swift lifting of restrictions.

“We simply cannot spell out now how fast or slow or even when those changes will be made, though clearly the government will be saying much more about this in the coming days,” he said.

“We must also recognise the risk of a second spike, the risk of losing control of that virus and letting the reproduction rate go back over one because that would mean not only a new wave of death and disease but also an economic disaster.”

The lockdown has left Britain facing possibly its deepest recession in three centuries and the biggest debt splurge since World War II. Mr Johnson’s government, party and scientific advisers are divided over how and when the world’s fifth-largest economy should start returning to work, even in limited form. The government is next due to review social distancing measures on May 7.

Since the lockdown on March 23, the government has faced criticism for initially delaying measures, for limited testing capabilities, and for a lack of protective equipment for health workers.

Meanwhile, Italy, which has the world’s second-highest rate of coronavirus deaths at more than 26,000, will allow factories and building sites to reopen from May 4 and permit limited family visits as it prepares a staged end to Europe’s longest coronavirus lockdown, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Sunday.

DANGER OF SECOND SPIKE

We must also recognise the risk of a second spike, the risk of losing control of that virus and letting the reproduction rate go back over one because that would mean not only a new wave of death and disease but also an economic disaster.

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON

The country is looking ahead to a second phase of the crisis in which it will attempt to restart the economy without triggering a new wave of infections.

“We expect a very complex challenge,” Mr Conte said. “We will live with the virus and we will have to adopt every precaution possible.”

Construction and manufacturing wholesalers will be the first sectors to be allowed to reopen, with retailers and museums to follow two weeks later and bars, restaurants and barbers potentially on June 1, according to Mr Conte. Schools will not reopen until September.

And in France, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will today present the national strategy for emerging from the coronavirus lockdown.

The government has identified 17 priorities for gradually bringing the country out of lockdown in a “controlled, progressive” manner from May 11. These include reopening schools, companies returning to work, getting public transport back to normal, supplying masks and sanitisers, testing policy and support for the elderly.

France on Sunday reported the smallest rise in deaths linked to the coronavirus since March 25, and the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care also fell. Deaths rose by 242 to 22,856, according to figures provided by the Health Ministry. The number of new cases increased by 1,129 to 191,743.

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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