British Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to make progress but remains in intensive care with COVID-19, as officials signal no end in sight yet for lockdowns.
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Johnson, 55, was admitted to London's St Thomas' Hospital on Sunday evening with a persistent high temperature and cough.
He was rushed to intensive care on Monday where he has since spent three nights receiving treatment.
Ministers have said he has been sitting up in bed and talking to medical staff.
"He's still in intensive care but he continues to make positive steps forward and he's in good spirits," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said at a news conference in Downing Street on Thursday.
Earlier on Thursday, a spokesman for the prime minister said Johnson had received oxygen support, but was not put on a ventilator.
Raab, Johnson's designated deputy, said the UK death toll in hospitals from coronavirus now stood at 7978, an increase of 881 from data published on Wednesday.
With the economy facing potentially the worst hit since World War II, the government said it had expanded its overdraft facility with the Bank of England.
The Bank of England has agreed temporarily to finance government borrowing in response to COVID-19 if funds cannot immediately be raised from debt markets, reviving a measure last widely used during the 2008 financial crisis.
The government has made pledges costing tens of billions of pounds to support businesses and workers hit by the virus.
On Thursday, the government said an additional 1.2 million claims for welfare payments had been filed since March 16.
The UK is entering what scientists say is the deadliest phase of the outbreak, with deaths expected to continue to rise over the Easter weekend.
The government's emergency response gathering, known as COBR, met on Thursday to discuss how it should deal with a review of the lockdown measures introduced last month.
Raab said the peak of the virus outbreak had yet to be reached and that the government would not be able to say more about the duration of the lockdown until late next week.
Keir Starmer, newly elected leader of the opposition Labour Party, called on ministers to publish its shutdown exit strategy, saying people needed to know what the plans were.
Australian Associated Press
