BORIS JOHNSON HOSPITALIZED; U.S. SURGEON GENERAL WARNS OF WEEK LIKE ‘PEARL HARBOR,’ ‘9/11’
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to a hospital Sunday for tests, his office said, because he is still suffering symptoms, 10 days after he was diagnosed with COVID-19.
Johnson’s office said the admission to an undisclosed London hospital came on the advice of his doctor and was not an emergency. The prime minister’s Downing Street office said that it was a “precautionary step” and that Johnson remains in charge of the government.
Johnson, 55, has been quarantined in his Downing Street residence since being diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26 — the first known head of government to fall ill with the virus.
Johnson has continued to preside at daily meetings on Britain’s response to the outbreak and has released several video messages during his 10 days in isolation.
In a message Friday, a flushed and redeyed Johnson said he was feeling better but still had a fever.
President Donald Trump offered encouragement to Johnson as he opened a White House briefing on the pandemic Sunday. “All Americans are praying for him,” Trump said.
News of Johnson’s admission to the hospital came an hour after Queen Elizabeth II made a rare televised address to the nation, in which she urged Britons to remain “united and resolute” in the fight against the virus. “We will succeed — and that success will belong to every one of us,” the 93-yearold monarch said, drawing parallels to the struggle of World War II.
The queen gives yearly Christmas messages but has given an address like this on only three previous occasions. She delivered speeches after the Queen Mother’s death in 2002, before the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 and at the time of the first Gulf War in 1991.
Promising news in Italy, Spain
Italy and Spain also got some encouraging news. Italy registered its lowest day-to- day increase in deaths in more than two weeks — 525, said Angelo Borrelli, the head of the national Civil Protection agency. The pace of infection also seemed to be slowing.
Confirmed infections fell in Spain, too, and new deaths declined for the third straight day, dropping to 674 — the first time daily deaths have fallen below 800 in the past week.