New father Johnson holds cabinet meeting amid questions over UK's coronavirus response
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A day after his fiancee gave birth, Prime Minister Boris Johnson leads a meeting of his top ministers on Thursday to discuss how to ease Britain’s lockdown amid a backdrop of rising deaths and questions over the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.

New figures on Wednesday showed that Britain now has the second highest official COVD-19 death toll with more than 26,000 deaths, a statistic which puts pressure on the government over its response to the outbreak and fuelled caution in raising restrictions on movement in case that led to a second spike.

The government will also face questions if it fails to meet a target Heath Minister Matt Hancock set of carrying out 100,000 daily tests for the virus by the end of April, with testing seen as key to ending the lockdown.

Johnson returned to work on Monday having recovered after being infected with the virus, which left him gravely ill in intensive care at the peak of the outbreak. On Wednesday, his attention was elsewhere after his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, gave birth to the couple’s son.