British prime minister Boris Johnson has been taken into intensive care in hospital after his COVID-19 worsened.
“Since Sunday evening, the prime minister has been under the care of doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital, in London, after being admitted with persistent symptoms of coronavirus,” Downing Street said.
“Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the prime minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital. However, both Michael Gove who had himself gone into self-isolation and Dominic Raab inisisted that the Prime Minister was breathing on his own without any external support from the ventilator.
“The PM has asked foreign secretary Dominic Raab, who is the first secretary of state, to deputise for him where necessary.”
A source later said Johnson remained conscious.
On Sunday 5th April, following Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s televised speech, reports surfaced of Prime Minister Boris Johnson being rushed to an undisclosed hospital as he continued to show “persistent symptoms” of coronavirus.
Downing Street has insisted that this is a “precautionary step” and not an emergency even as Johnson stayed overnight in the hospital on the advice of his doctors. He tweeted,
“Last night on the advice of my doctor, I went into hospital for some routine tests as I am still experiencing coronavirus symptoms. I am in good spirits and keeping in touch with my team, as we work together to fight this virus and keep everyone safe.
“I would like to say thank you to all the brilliant NHS staff taking care of me and others in this difficult time. You are the best of Britain.”
On 27th March Johnson became the first leader of a major country to declare that he had started showing symptoms for Covid-19. While Prime Minister is reportedly still heading the government from his hospital bed, Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab has been assigned as the intermediary figurehead to chair the Covid-19 committee meetings in prime minister’s absence.
Johnson’s girlfriend Carrie Symonds is six months into her pregnancy and has also been showing symptoms for the virus. However, she had earlier tweeted about recovering and gaining strength similar to Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who stepped out of self-isolation seven days after being tested positive of the virus.
