Queen Elizabeth II to praise virus response in rare address

Queen Elizabeth II will urge people to rise to the challenge posed by the coronavirus outbreak, in a rare special address to Britain and Commonwealth nations on Sunday.

In extracts released Saturday of what royal officials said was a "deeply personal" speech, the 93-year-old monarch will say she has faith that people will respond, despite the difficulties.

The broadcast, scheduled to air at 1900 GMT on Sunday, is only the fourth time in her 68-year reign that she has made a special televised address outside her annual Christmas Day message.

It comes as daily deaths in Britain hit a record high of 708, including a five-year-old child on Saturday, taking the overall toll to 4,313 -- and as the country prepared for a third week of lockdown.

According to Buckingham Palace, the queen will personally thank frontline healthcare staff and other key workers for their efforts during the crisis.

"I am speaking to you at what I know is an increasingly challenging time," she will say in the speech, which was recorded at Windsor Castle, west of London.

"A time of disruption in the life of our country: a disruption that has brought grief to some, financial difficulties to many, and enormous changes to the daily lives of us all."
"That the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterise this country."