UK Prime Minister Boris Johnsons plan to ease COVID-19 lockdown measures has come under increased criticism as the country has crossed the grim milestone of 40,000 coronavirus deaths. With 40,344 deaths, the UK currently accounts for the highest number of COVID-19 fatalities in Europe and the second highest in the world.

The country has registered a total of 284,734 COVID-19, which is the fourth highest in the world, according to the Johns Hopkins University. Under pressure to resume economic activity, Johnson decided to reopen elementary schools in England this week and is expected to allow non-essential businesses to resume within 10 days, despite warnings from a number of experts that it was too soon to ease the lockdown, reports Efe news. His roadmap suffered another setback on Friday when it became apparent that the transmission rate in England was higher than in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which have refused to follow London's strategy. The infection rate in London is around R0.95, meaning a person infects 0.95 other people on average.