I am sorry I have been away from my desk for much longer than I would have likedand I want to thank everybody who has stepped upin particular the First Secretary of State Dominic Raabwho has done a terrific jobbut once again I want to thank youthe people of this countryfor the sheer grit and gutsyou have shown and are continuing to showevery day I know that this virus brings new sadness and mourning to households across the landand it is still true that this is the biggest single challenge this country has faced since the warand I in no way minimise the continuing problems we faceand yet it is also true that we are making progresswith fewer hospital admissionsfewer covid patients in ICUand real signs now that we are passing through the peakand thanks to your forbearance, your good sense, your altruism, your spirit of communitythanks to our collective national resolvewe are on the brink of achieving that first clear missionto prevent our national health service from being overwhelmedin a way that tragically we have seen elsewhereand that is how and why we are now beginning to turn the tideIf this virus were a physical assailantan unexpected and invisible muggerwhich I can tell you from personal experience it isthen this is the moment when we have begun together to wrestle it to the floorand so it follows that this is the moment of opportunitythis is the moment when we can press home our advantageit is also the moment of maximum riskbecause I know that there will be many people looking now at our apparent successand beginning to wonder whether now is the time to go easy on those social distancing measuresand I know how hard and how stressful it has been to give upeven temporarilythose ancient and basic freedomsnot seeing friends, not seeing loved onesworking from home, managing the kidsworrying about your job and your firmso let me say directly also to British businessto the shopkeepers, to the entrepreneurs, to the hospitality sectorto everyone on whom our economy dependsI understand your impatienceI share your anxietyAnd I know that without our private sectorwithout the drive and commitment of the wealth creators of this countrythere will be no economy to speak ofthere will be no cash to pay for our public servicesno way of funding our NHSand yes I can see the long term consequences of lock down as clearly as anyoneand so yes I entirely share your urgencyit’s the government’s urgencyand yet we must also recognise the risk of a second spikethe risk of losing control of that virusand letting the reproduction rate go back over onebecause that would mean not only a new wave of death and disease but also an economic disasterand we would be forced once again to slam on the brakes across the whole countryand the whole economyand reimpose restrictions in such a way as to do more and lasting damageand so I know it is toughand I want to get this economy moving as fast as I canbut I refuse to throw away all the effort and the sacrifice of the British peopleand to risk a second major outbreak and huge loss of life and the overwhelming of the NHSand I ask you to contain your impatience because I believe we are coming now to the end of the first phase of this conflictand in spite of all the suffering we have so nearly succeededwe defied so many predictionswe did not run out of ventilators or ICU bedswe did not allow our NHS to collapseand on the contrary we have so far collectively shielded our NHS so that our incredible doctors and nurses and healthcare staff have been able to shield all of usfrom an outbreak that would have been far worseand we collectively flattened the peakand so when we are sure that this first phase is overand that we are meeting our five testsdeaths fallingNHS protectedrate of infection downreally sorting out the challenges of testing and PPEavoiding a second peakthen that will be the time to move on to the second phasein which we continue to suppress the diseaseand keep the reproduction rate, the r rate, down,but begin gradually to refine the economic and social restrictionsand one by one to fire up the engines of this vast UK economyand in that process difficult judgments will be madeand we simply cannot spell out now how fast or slow or even when those changes will be madethough clearly the government will be saying much more about this in the coming daysand I want to serve notice now that these decisions will be taken with the maximum possible transparencyand I want to share all our working and our thinking, my thinking, with you the British peopleand of course, we will be relying as ever on the science to inform usas we have from the beginningbut we will also be reaching out to build the biggest possible consensusacross business, across industry, across all parts of our United Kingdomacross party linesbringing in opposition parties as far as we possibly canbecause I think that is no less than what the British people would expectand I can tell you now that preparations are under wayand have been for weeksto allow us to win phase two of this fight as I believe we are now on track to prevail in phase oneand so I say to you finally if you can keep going in the way that you have kept going so farif you can help protect our NHSto save livesand if we as a country can show the same spirit of optimism and energy shown by Captain Tom Moorewho turns 100 this weekif we can show the same spirit of unity and determination as we have all shown in the past six weeksthen I have absolutely no doubt thatwe will beat it togetherwe will come through this all the fasterand the United Kingdomwill emerge stronger than ever before