Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the COVID-19 pandemic was a "disaster" for Britain, AP reported.

“This has been a disaster,” Johnson said on Monday. “Let’s not mince our words. I mean, this has been an absolute nightmare for the country and the country’s gone through a profound shock.”

“But in those moments, you have the opportunity to change and to do things better,” he told Times Radio. “This is a moment now to give our country the skills, the infrastructure, the long-term investment that we need.”

Johnson promised a “Rooseveltian approach,” citing the New Deal policies of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which helped pull the US out of the Great Depression.

The PM announced the allocation of 1 billion pounds for the construction of new schools. He plans to introduce a number of other infrastructure projects this week.