British prime minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care after his coronavirus symptoms worsened, Downing Street has confirmed.
Earlier Downing Street insisted that Johnson continues to run the government despite spending a second night in hospital with Covid-19. Foreign secretary Dominic Raab, who as Mr Johnson’s de facto deputy chaired a daily meeting about coronavirus on Monday, told a press briefing that the prime minister was in good spirits.
“He’s in charge, but you’re right, he will continue to take doctors’ advice on what to do next. We have a team that is full throttle, making sure that his directions and his instructions are being followed through,” he said.
Mr Johnson was admitted to London’s St Thomas’s Hospital for tests on Sunday night, 10 days after testing positive for coronavirus. Downing Street said he remained under observation in hospital on Monday, but declined to give details of the treatment he was receiving or to say whether he was suffering from pneumonia.
Mr Johnson’s official spokesman described a Russian report that the prime minister was on a ventilator as “disinformation”, and chief medical officer Chris Whitty said admission to hospital for coronavirus did not necessarily mean that a patient would be treated in an intensive care unit.
“I’m absolutely not going to discuss any individual patient: nor, to be clear, do I have all the details; nor should I, as this is an issue between him and his medical advisers.
“I can give a general answer, which is the clear majority of people who do end up going to hospital, they end up going into a general bed, they may or may not need oxygen and other things, and they don’t need to go further than that,” he said.
Prof Whitty, who has been recovering from coronavirus, advised the prime minister to get tested for it when he first showed symptoms, but he has not been involved in his treatment.
