LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that he hoped the time of national lockdowns to tackle the coronavirus outbreak was receding as local measures could be used but warned of the economic cost of the pandemic.

"We are now moving into a different phase," he said, adding that local measures and test and trace systems could be used "rather than going back to the national lockdown."

Johnson said he hoped every school pupil and every student could go back to school full time in September.

"There has been a huge economic cost to what has happened," he said.

"That will be painful and expensive to make up."

"There will be some difficult times ahead," Johnson said. "We will manage our finances as prudently and as sensibly as we can.