U.K. PM admitted to hospital for tests

Johnson has ‘persistent’ virus symptoms

LONDON • British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital for tests on Sunday after suffering persistent coronavirus symptoms 10 days after testing positive for the virus, though Downing Street said he remained in charge of the government.

Johnson, who was isolating in Downing Street after testing positive last month, still had a high temperature and so his doctors felt he should go to hospital for tests in what the government said was a “precautionary step.”

“On the advice of his doctor, the prime minister has tonight been admitted to hospital for tests,” his Downing Street office said in a statement. Johnson is expected to stay overnight.

“This is a precautionary step, as the prime minister continues to have persistent symptoms of coronavirus ten days after testing positive for the virus,” the statement added.

Johnson, 55, on March 27 became the first leader of a major power to announce that he had tested positive. He went into isolation at an apartment in Downing Street and said on Friday he was staying there as he still had a high temperature.

Downing Street underscored that this was not an emergency admission and that Johnson remains in charge of the government. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will chair the government’s emergency COVID-19 meeting on Monday, a source said.

With only an unwieldy collection of sometimes ancient and contradictory precedents to go by, there is no simple, formally enshrined “Plan B" or succession scenario if the prime minister is incapacitated.

The pound briefly fell 0.4 per cent vs. the U.S. dollar to $1.2215 before trimming some losses to trade at $1.2230, down 0.3 per cent.

Queen Elizabeth has been informed of Johnson’s admission to hospital, Buckingham Palace said. It made no further comment.

After facing criticism in the United Kingdom for initially approving a much more modest response to the novel coronavirus outbreak than other major European leaders, Johnson changed tack when scientific projections showed a quarter of a million people could die in the United Kingdom.

Johnson effectively shuttered the world’s fifth-largest economy, advising people to stay at home and the elderly or infirm to isolate themselves for weeks.

But the virus penetrated the British government.

Johnson and his health minister tested positive last month and his chief medical adviser also self isolated. Johnson’s pregnant 32-yearold fiancée, Carrie Symonds, also had symptoms but said on Saturday she was feeling better.