国际英语新闻:PM says UK "past the peak" as COVID-19 deaths rise to 26,711

LONDON, April 30 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Thursday that the country is "past the peak" of the COVID-19 outbreak as another 674 patients have died, bringing the total coronavirus-related death toll in Britain to 26,711.

"We are past the peak of this disease" and are "on the downward slope", Johnson told reporters during his first Downing Street daily press briefing since recovering from COVID-19.

The government's Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance confirmed that the numbers of hospital admissions and intensive care cases are both falling while the number of deaths is also stabilizing.

Johnson said he will publish a "comprehensive" plan next week, which will cover three things: how Britain can restart the economy; how can the country get children back to school and get people into work.

However, there will be five key tests before Britain can ease the lockdown, he noted.

"First, we must be able to protect the NHS (National Health Service) and its ability to cope. Second, there must be a sustained fall in deaths. Third, the infection rate must be falling. Fourth, we must deal with the challenges of testing and PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). And fifth, we must ensure that there is no second peak that could overwhelm the NHS," he told reporters.

He said the plan will be based on "how we can continue to suppress disease" while restarting the economy.

"The dates and times of each individual measure will be very much driven by what the data is saying, and we are getting a lot more data every day," he said.

Meanwhile, the government continues to expand the country's virus testing capacity. Some 901,905 tests for coronavirus have now been carried out in Britain, including 81,611 tests Wednesday, according to the prime minister. The government has previously set a target of 100,000 tests per day by the end of this month.

Britain is also making great efforts in developing a vaccine for COVID-19.

Earlier Thursday, the University of Oxford announced that it had reached an agreement with the UK-based global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for the further development, large-scale manufacture and potential distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate currently being trialed by the university.

The partnership is to begin immediately with the final terms being agreed in the coming weeks, which will allow rapid vaccination around the world if the COVID-19 vaccine candidate proves to be effective, according to the university.