United Kingdom: eventful session for the return of Boris Johnson before Parliament

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The British Prime Minister conducted his first weekly question period in Parliament on Wednesday since his return to business. And he had to face harsh criticism from the opposition when his country had just passed the 30,000 mark for the Covid-19.

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From our correspondent in London,  Muriel Delcroix

The UK  is now the country with the most victims in Europe, with over 30 000 deaths caused by coronavirus, and the second behind the United States in the world. "  But how did we get there  ?" Attacked Labor opposition leader Keir Starmer on the government's handling of the crisis.

Keir Starmer reminded Boris Johnson that he spoke of the country's “  success  ” in the face of the pandemic when he returned to command when the UK was now the most bereaved in Europe. The head of Labor criticized the slowness of the executive to establish containment, to screen its population and to track down the virus.

How on earth did it come to this? #PMQs pic.twitter.com/Sj0kxzAvaC

200,000 tests per day by the end of the month

A lawyer by training, Keir Starmer questioned with frightening precision, asking the Prime Minister why his government had suddenly abandoned its screening strategy in mid-March. And why the residents of retirement homes continued to be decimated by the virus.

On the defensive, Boris Johnson ended up admitting that systematic screening had to be abandoned due to lack of capacity at the time and that he was "  frustrated  " by the ravages of the virus in hospices.

It is the first time that the leader admits a flaw in the management of the coronavirus crisis and to counterbalance the impact, Boris Johnson promised that the country would go from a capacity of 100,000 tests per day currently to 200,000 by the end of the month.

The British Prime Minister also confirmed that he would announce ways to ease containment this Sunday, with measures that could apply as early as Monday.

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• United Kingdom
• Boris Johnson
• Coronavirus

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