Some 20,000 former NHS staff have returned to work to help the fight against coronavirus, Boris Johnson has revealed in a video posted online.
The prime minister, who is self-isolating after testing positive for the virus, said the country would get through the crisis “together”.
It comes after England’s deputy chief medical officer said it could be six months before life in the UK returns to “normal”.
The UK death toll has reached 1,228.
Among those to have died with the virus is Amged El-Hawrani, a 55-year-old doctor and ear, nose and throat trainer at Queen’s Hospital Burton.
And last week an organ transplant consultant died after testing positive for the virus.
In the video, which the prime minister posted on Twitter, Mr Johnson chose to contradict his Conservative predecessor Margaret Thatcher’s view that “there is no such thing as society”.
Thanking the doctors, nurses and other former professionals who have returned to the NHS, as well as the 750,000 members of the public who have volunteered to help the country through the pandemic, he said: “We are going to do it, we are going to do it together.
“One thing I think the coronavirus crisis has already proved is that there really is such a thing as society.”
Mr Johnson said the public appeared to be obeying the restrictions set out by government to slow the spread of the virus, adding that train use was down 95% and bus use down 75%.
The prime minister has continued to lead the country’s response to the pandemic while self-isolating in his Downing Street flat.