LONDON (BLOOMBERG) – UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he accepts the public is angry with his handling of the pandemic, as officials confirmed thousands of positive cases had been missed from Covid-19 test results.

After months of criticism and amid a slide in the polls, Johnson also warned that the country still faces a “very tough winter” ahead.

“I know people are furious and they’re furious with me,” the prime minister said on the BBC’s Andrew Marr program on Sunday (Oct 4).

“It’s going to be bumpy through to Christmas, it may even be bumpy beyond.”

The public, he said, should live “fearlessly but with common sense.”

Johnson’s message was aimed at trying to persuade the public of the difficulty of his task – to strike a balance between suppressing the virus, as new cases rise, while keeping the economy open to save jobs.

Politically, he is seeking to use the Conservative Party’s conference – forced online this year – to reassert his authority on a fractious party and reset the agenda for his government.

Meanwhile, Public Health England said 15,841 positive test results had been missed from official daily Covid-19 figures between Sept 25-Oct 2.

The error was due to a technical issue in the automated processing of data, the agency said.

It took the daily figures announced on Sunday to more than 22,000 cases.

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