President Trump and Queen Send Further Wellwishes
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson tonight remains in intensive care, continuing to receive oxygen but breathing unaided and conscious.
Mr. Johnson, who had previously been suffering symptoms of COVID-19 and was tested positive for the virus on March 26, is being cared for at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London and was formerly ‘under observation’ before being transferred to ICU on Sunday evening.
President Trump once again sent wellwishes to the PM during his evening Covid Task Force briefing, stating of Mr. Johnson, “He’s become a great friend of ours…He loves the U.S.A. and he’s always been very good to us…so we pray for him”.
Last night No.10 Downing Street last night issued the statement below;
As the First Secretary of State, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has been deputizing for the PM whilst he is unable to conduct business, heading up the daily public briefing.
Mr. Johnson had previously Tweeted he was “in good spirits” and “continuing to lead the fight against the virus”.
Mr. Raab stated earlier, “Prime Minister Johnson is a fighter and will recover…I’m confident he will pull through”.
No.10 added today that the Prime Minister was “very much in charge of the government”.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has also sent her best wishes to the Prime Minister and his pregnant partner, Carrie Symonds.
——————————————————————————————————————–
Update from Laura Kuensberg, Political editor, BBC News; (Sunday evening)
After very, very little information was shared today, the prime minister was taken into intensive care at around 19:00 BST.
We’ve been told he is still conscious, but his condition has worsened over the course of the afternoon.
And he has been moved to intensive care as a precaution in case he needs ventilation to get through this illness.
The statement from Downing Street makes clear he is receiving excellent care and he wants to thank all of the NHS staff.
But something important has changed, and he has felt it necessary to ask his foreign secretary to deputize for him where needs be.
That is a completely different message from what we have heard over the past 18 hours or so, where it was continually “the prime minister is in touch” and “he is in charge” – almost like everything is business as usual.
But clearly being in intensive care changes everything.
