UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been admitted to intensive care on Monday April 6 2020, days after he went into self isolation since testing positive for coronavirus.
Johnson’s Downing Street Office said “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.”
Officials also noted that the Foreign Minister, Dominique Raab is to take over Mr. Johnson’s duties where necessary.
The government explained that Johnson was transferred in case there was a need for him to use a ventilator.
The PM was admitted to London’s St Thomas’ Hospital last Sunday having developed a temperature and a cough. He tested positive for coronavirus on March 27, making him the highest ranked world leader to have contracted the disease that is rapidly spreading across the world.
Johnson who is 55 years old had been in self-isolation in his Downing Street apartment until Sunday evening when he was moved to a state owned hospital on the advice of his doctor.
When questions were raised about whether Prime Minister Johnson could still run the country, government officials explained that the move was only a precautionary step.
At the initial stage and as the virus spread, the British Government refused to order that its citizens stay at home like the country’s European counterparts did.
The Prime Minister who only ordered a nationwide lockdown 2 weeks ago had in early march said that he was still shaking hands with people.
It is now feared that the UK might be heading towards a serious outbreak with over 50,000 cases and more than 5,000 deaths recorded so far. The daily death rate is now put at 439.
Other high profile leaders in the UK who had been infected with the disease are Health Secretary, Matt Hancock and Heir to the throne, Prince Charles. They have both recovered.
On Sunday night, the Queen, Elizabeth II made a rare public address that evoked the spirit of World War II. In her remarkable speech, she urged Britons to stay unified.
“We will be with our friends again, we will be with our families again, we will meet again,” she said.
