British Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned to Downing Street after recovering from the virus on Monday as Britain on Sunday reported its lowest daily rise in coronavirus deaths in nearly four weeks as officials confirmed. The number of people who have died rose by 413 to 20,732, officials said on Sunday, the lowest reported daily increase in April.

Johnson will resume his duties on Monday after recovering at his country residence since his release from hospital on April 12. And immediate concern will be deciding whether to relax strict social distancing rules.

Despite the slowdown, which came at a weekend when the toll has often been lower, Environment Secretary George Eustice said on Sunday that lockdown rules should remain in place. “There are encouraging signs of progress,” he said at a daily press briefing. “But before we consider it safe to adjust any of the current system distancing measures, we must be satisfied that we have met the five tests set last week.”

These included making sure the British health service (NHS) was able to cope, and a “sustained and consistent” fall in the daily death rate. The UK was initially placed into lockdown on March 23. This was extended on April 16 and a review is due on May 7.

A report by The Guardian said, Doctors working in the riskiest areas of the UK’s hospitals with Covid-19 patients are finding it harder to get protective kit, despite ministerial pledges to solve the problem, research reveals.

The Royal College of Physicians has condemned the apparently worsening availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) as “truly terrible” and warned that frontline staff’s lives are at risk as a result.

Meanwhile, there had been calls for the rules to be relaxed from within the ruling Conservative Party as country’s economy plunges. The new opposition Labour party leader Keir Starmer meanwhile wrote to Johnson on Sunday asking for details of a potential lifting of restrictions.

Sunday’s figures also showed another 4,463 people had tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to almost 153,000. Despite Sunday’s lower death toll Britain remains one of the worst-hit countries in the world by the virus.

(With inputs from AFP)