IN HIS first speech on Downing Street since he was hospitalised with coronavirus, Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked those who had "stepped up" in his absence, including his stand-in Dominic Raab.

He said he had been "away from my desk for much longer than I would've liked".

Addressing the nation he said: "Once again I want to thank you the people of this country for the sheer grit and guts you've shown and are continuing to show.

"Every day I know that this virus brings new sadness and mourning to households across the land."

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Mr Johnson continued: "It is still true that this is the biggest single challenge this country has faced since the war and I in no way minimise the continuing problems we face.

"And yet it is also true that we are making progress with fewer hospital admissions, fewer Covid patients in ICU and real signs now that we are passing through the peak.

"And thanks to your forbearance, your good sense your altruism, your spirit of community, thanks to our collective national resolve, we are on the brink of achieving that first clear mission to prevent our National Health Service 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."

Mr Johnson, drawing on his own battle with Covid-19 which put him in intensive care, said: "If this virus were a physical assailant, an unexpected and invisible mugger - which I can tell you from personal experience, it is - then this is the moment when we have begun together to wrestle it to the floor.

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"And so it follows that this is the moment of opportunity, this is the moment when we can press home our advantage, it is also the moment of maximum risk.

"I know there will be many people looking at our apparent success, and beginning to wonder whether now is the time to go easy on those social distancing measures."

He said he understood "how hard and stressful it has been to give up, even temporarily, those ancient and basic freedoms".

But he said the potential of a second spike in cases risked "economic disaster".

Mr Johnson added: "And so I know it is tough. And I want to get this economy moving as fast as I can, but I refuse to throw away all the effort and the sacrifice of the British people and to risk a second major outbreak and huge loss of life and the overwhelming of the NHS.

"And 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.

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"We defied so many predictions. We did not run out of ventilators or ICU beds. We did not allow our NHS to collapse, and on the contrary we have so far collectively shielded our NHS so that our incredible doctors and nurses and healthcare staff have been able to shield all of us from an outbreak that would have been far worse and we collectively flattened the peak."