UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in “good spirits” and “responding to treatment” after a second night in intensive care, his spokesman said on Wednesday afternoon.
Johnson, who was admitted to St. Thomas’ Hospital on Sunday with “persistent” symptoms of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, was moved into intensive care in London on Monday.
“The Prime Minister remains clinically stable and is responding to treatment,” his spokesman said in a statement which came originally from Johnson’s doctors.
He added: “He continues to be cared for in the intensive care unit at St Thomas’s hospital, and he is in good spirits.”
Johnson continues to receive oxygen treatment and does not have pneumonia.
However, the spokesman declined to answer more detailed questions about Johnson’s condition.
“The information in the update we provided was given to us by St. Thomas’s Hospital and it contains all of the information which the Prime Minister’s medical team consider to be clinically relevant,” he added.
The Times of London on Wednesday cited an unnamed source suggesting that the prime minister’s persistently high temperature had come down.
Dominic Raab, the UK foreign secretary, is standing in for Johnson while he is treated.
“The PM sent the message that he wanted the foreign secretary to assume some of his responsibilities where appropriate,” his spokesman said on Tuesday.
He added that if Raab also became ill, then Chancellor Rishi Sunak would step in to deputize for him.
Raab told the BBC that he would deputize for the prime minister “where necessary,” adding that “there is an incredibly strong team spirit behind the prime minister.”
The UK’s chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove, told the BBC the whole cabinet would lead the country’s response to the virus in Johnson’s absence.
“We’re all working together to implement the plan that the prime minister set out to make sure we can marshal all the resources of government and this country to fight this invisible enemy,” Gove said.
Several of Johnson’s senior aides are also experiencing symptoms of the virus.
Johnson spent over a week in self-isolation after developing COVID-19 symptoms before he was taken to the hospital on Sunday for tests.
His condition worsened later in the day, prompting doctors to move him into intensive care.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the United Kingdom recorded its highest single-day death toll to date from the disease — 786.
As of 9am 7 April, 266,694 tests have concluded, with 14,006 tests on 6 April.
213,181 people have been tested of which 55,242 tested positive.
As of 5pm on 6 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 6,159 have sadly died. pic.twitter.com/MB1ckbNjm7
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) April 7, 2020
Featured Image Credit: A view of St Thomas’ Hospital in Westminster where Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson is undergoing treatment after suffering from coronavirus symptoms, in London, Monday, April 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein) AP
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