Boris Johnson appeared with his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, for the first time since they announced the birth of their son, Wilfred. Britons joined in a weekly nationwide round of applause on Thursday to pay tribute to care workers and hospital staff as the country gingerly starts to return to work. People across the United Kingdom have been cheering, banging pots and pans and playing musical instruments every Thursday evening since the applause become an emotional weekly ritual when it first took place on March 26.

Mr Johnson announced a very limited easing of Britain’s coronavirus lockdown on Sunday, adopting a cautious approach to try to ensure there is no second peak of infections that could further hurt the economy and cost lives.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also joined in with the applause.

He wrote on Twitter: “Thank you to the carers, NHS staff and the key workers who are saving lives and keeping the country going.”

Mr Johnson also wrote on the social media site: Thank you to those wonderful people who care for all of us when we need it the most. Tonight, we clapped for all of you.”

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The applause for health workers has become a weekly feature of life under lockdown in Britain, providing a moment of national unity and escapism from isolation and anxiety, at a time where social distancing measures have greatly reduced how much time people spend outside with others.

The public show of appreciation for the NHS has been matched with generosity, with amateur runners, footballers and even a 100-year-old war veteran among the people raising millions of pounds to support the health service.

Captain Tom Moore has since become a hero to the nation and recently became a Colonel. 

He has continued walking around his garden according to his daughter.

Britain last month pledged 5 billion pounds to the health service to fight coronavirus and finance minister Rishi Sunak said extra services that were needed would be funded “whatever it costs.”

The Dutch national living in south London, whose “spontaneous idea” has united a nation, says the weekly 8pm Clap For Our Carers shows the British public have “passion and spirit”.

Annemarie Plas, a 36-year-old mother-of-one, originally thought her show of support for frontline workers battling Covid-19 might end up being just her and a few friends sharing a moment on Facetime.

But now, at 8pm on every Thursday since the UK was plunged into lockdown, people have flung open their windows and doors, or have stood in their gardens or – socially distanced – on street corners to show their appreciation for nurses, carers and others battling the coronavirus on the front line.

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The #ClapForOurCarers idea even has its own website.

“It got really big, eh?” said Mrs Plas, a yoga teacher originally from Amsterdam, who is married to a British man.

She said: “I was inspired by what was happening in my own country and I thought it would be good to have it here too.

“I discussed the idea with my friends and they said it would just be me and them doing it.”