UK PM Johnson: we can get on top of coronavirus in 12 weeks

Britain hopes to turn the tide on the coronavirus within the next 12 weeks if people follow government advice so that the number of those acquiring the virus will be decreasing by end of June, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday.

"At the moment, the disease is proceeding in a way that does not seem yet to be responding to our interventions," he told a news conference.

"I believe that a combination of the measures that we're asking the public to take and better testing, scientific progress, will enable us to get on top of it within the next 12 weeks... I cannot stand here and tell you that by the end of June we will be on a downward slope. It's possible but I simply can't say that that's for certain."