BORIS MOVED TO INTENSIVE CARE
FEARS AS PRIME MINISTER’S CONDITION WORSENS
BORIS Johnson was moved onto an intensive care unit last night.
The condition of the prime minister, who is battling Covid-19, had worsened during the day, the government said.
They said he remained conscious and had been moved to the ICU as a precaution should he require ventilation to aid his recovery.
Downing Street said Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab would “deputise where necessary” while the prime minister was being treated.
A Number 10 spokesman said: “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.
“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.
“The PM has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is the first secretary of state, to deputise for him where necessary.
“The PM is receiving excellent care, and thanks all NHS staff for their hard work and dedication.”
Earlier the foreign secretary said the prime minister remained in charge of the government despite remaining under observation at St Thomas’s Hospital, London.
But at the daily Number 10 news conference, Mr Raab faced repeated questions as to how Mr Johnson could cope with demands of the premiership if he was sick enough to require hospital treatment.
Earlier Downing Street, which had previously described his symptoms as ‘mild’, switched to describing them as ‘persistent’.
They included a cough as well as a continuing high temperature, 10 days after he first tested positive for the coronavirus.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said Mr Johnson had been taken to hospital on the advice of his doctor and as a ‘precaution’, and that it was not an emergency admission.
The spokesman said that he remained in touch with colleagues in Number 10 and that he was continuing to work from his bed on official papers delivered in his ministerial red box. In a tweet, Mr Johnson said he remained in ‘good spirits’.