Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday he could begin to ease Britain's nationwide coronavirus lockdown next week, but warned he would do nothing to risk a new surge of cases, Reuters reports.

Johnson was speaking the day after the country's official virus death toll overtook Italy's to become the highest in Europe, with more than 32,000 fatalities related to Covid-19 — behind only the United States in the global tallies.

He said that “every death is a tragedy,” calling the statistics “appalling”, but insisted there was not yet enough data to make reliable international comparisons.

Speaking in parliament for the first time since he himself was hospitalised with coronavirus, Johnson said the government would review the data and he would set out the next steps on Sunday.