The Prime Minister thanked the doctors, nurses and other former professionals for returning to duty, as well as the 750,000 members of the public who have volunteered to support the health service. Mr Johnson is commanding the Government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis while remaining in self-isolation behind closed doors in his flat above No 11 Downing Street.

Thank you to everybody who’s now coming back into the NHS in such huge numbers

Boris Johnson

In a selfie video posted on social media he said: “We are going to do it, we are going to do it together.

“One thing I think the coronavirus crisis has already proved is that there really is such a thing as society.”

In the video selfie, Mr Johnson said the public appeared to be observing the terms of the UK lockdown to slow the spread of the disease, saying train use was down 95 percent and buses down 75 percent.

He said: “Thank you to everybody who’s now coming back into the NHS in such huge numbers.

“Just this evening I can tell you we have 20,000 NHS staff coming back to the colours.

“It’s the most amazing thing. And that’s in addition to the 750,000 members of the public who have volunteered to help us get through this crisis.”

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Mr Johnson said the UK would get through the crisis “together” after the deputy chief medical officer warned coronavirus restrictions might be in place for as long as six months.

Dr Jenny Harries the nation will not be in “complete lockdown” for half a year but said social distancing measures will be lifted only gradually.

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Dr Harries said the three-week reviews on the measures to slow the disease’s spread are likely to continue for six months and their success would be judged on slowing its rate.

She warned a sudden lifting could see the nation’s sacrifices “wasted” with another spike in deaths, which have reached 1,228.

Dr Harries said: “We need to keep that lid on and then gradually we will be able to hopefully adjust some of the social distancing measures and gradually get us all back to normal.

“Three weeks for review, two or three months to see if we’ve really squashed it, but three to six months, ideally, but lots of uncertainty in that but then to see at which point we can actually get back to normal and it is plausible it could go further than that.”

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Dr Harries spoke as the coronavirus death toll in UK hospitals reached 1,228, a rise of 209.

This was the second biggest day-on-day jump but it was smaller than the 260 increase reported the day before.

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