The UK’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said he is “confident” that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will “pull-through” and make a recovery.
The comments came as Mr Johnson remains in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. The PM was admitted to hospital as a precaution on Sunday evening, reportedly for routine tests after still experiencing symptoms 10 days after testing positive for the COVID-19 Coronavirus. However, his condition deteriorated during Monday and he was transferred to Intensive Care around 7pm on Monday evening. According to Downing Street, Mr Jonhnson has received oxygen support but has not needed the support of a ventilator.
Tuesday’s full cabinet meeting was cancelled, and Dominic Raab is now deputising for the Prime Minister where needed, including by leading the government’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Michael Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and one of the key people overseeing the UK’s response to the Coronavirus said on Tuesday that he was self-isolating at home after a member of his family began to display mild symptoms of the virus.
Messages of support for the Prime Minister have come in from leaders across the world, and from the Queen.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he wanted to offer ‘help’ to treat Boris Johnson, and said he had asked “leading companies” to “contact London immediately” about solutions. During a press briefing, Mr Trump said: “We’ll see if we can be of help. We’ve contacted all of Boris’ doctors, and we’ll see what is going to take place, but they are ready to go”.
According to new figures as of 5pm on Monday, a further 786 patients have died in the UK after contracting the COVID-19 Coronavirus, taking the total death toll in the UK to 6,159. The number of new deaths is significantly higher than the day previous, but it is thought there is a lag in the reporting of weekend figures due to there being less staff working.
Photo Credit: Pippa Fowles / No 10 Downing Street under licence (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
