UK should take 'interventionist' economic approach to tackle virus crisis - Johnson

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday that the government should "keep going with an activist, interventionist approach" to help the economy recover from the coronavirus crisis.

"That's the way also to get business to be confident, to start investing, to start taking people back and start creating new jobs and driving new growth," Johnson told reporters, reports the CNN.

The country has been badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, and is trying to stave off its worst downturn in more than 300 years. It has one of the highest coronavirus death tolls in the world and an economy that is only gradually emerging from lockdown.

UK GDP contracted by more than 20 percent in April, a record, following a 6 percent decline in March. Meanwhile, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned in June that the UK would suffer the worst downturn of any major economy this year.

In an earlier interview on the newly-launched 'Times Radio' on Monday morning, the British PM said that "it's going to be tough" but "the UK is an amazingly dynamic, resilient economy. And we're going to come through it very, very well, indeed."

"What we're going to be doing in the next few months, is really doubling down on our initial agenda, which was all about investment, if you remember in infrastructure, in education, in technology, to bring the country together," Johnson said.

"This is a moment now to give our country the skills, the infrastructure, the long term investment that we need," he added.