Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care in hospital after his coronavirus symptoms “worsened”, Downing Street has said.
A spokesman said he was moved on the advice of his medical team and is receiving “excellent care”.
Mr Johnson has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to deputise “where necessary”, the spokesman added.
The prime minister, 55, was admitted to hospital in London with “persistent symptoms” on Sunday evening.
A No 10 statement read: “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 [Monday] 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.”
It continued: “The PM is receiving excellent care, and thanks all NHS staff for their hard work and dedication.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said his thoughts were with the prime minister and his pregnant partner, Carrie Symonds, and that Mr Johnson would “come out of this even stronger”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer described it as “terribly sad news”.
“All the country’s thoughts are with the prime minister and his family during this incredibly difficult time,” he added.
Mr Johnson was initially taken to hospital for routine tests after testing positive for coronavirus 10 days ago. His symptoms included a high temperature and a cough.
Earlier on Monday, he tweeted that he was in “good spirits”.
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 deputise 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.
Last month, the prime minister’s spokesman said if Mr Johnson was unwell and unable to work, Mr Raab, as the first secretary of state, would stand in.
It comes as the number of coronavirus hospital deaths in the UK reached 5,373 – an increase of 439 in a day.
The Department of Health and Social Care said there were now 51,608 confirmed coronavirus cases.
Source:BBC
Coronavirus is not a joke…its about time people back home start taking very serious especially Lungu,,very casual…its strange HH is the one fighting COVID 19..Lungu busy stealing and building a mansion in Eswathini
Corona knows no status whether rich or poor or best medical service in the world or what it enters that is how bad this disease is. But in Zambia is business as usual the time to act is now. Especially our so called leaders are so relaxed as if the disease doesn’t exist.
Very sad this disease is very dangerous we need to work together opposition parties and government this is not the time to play politics now lets come together and fight as one.
It’s obvious our testing has been limited in scope. We need to really step up especially with those truck drivers from outside Zed. That is certainly a source of worry. This virus is quite brutal on pipo with compromised immunity and we have a good number of those with HIV & as a result of malnutrition.
And when i say our tasting is not very accurate and we not doing enough tests…Kaizer Zulu thinks am bashing Zambia…..i know a lot of people walking around with corona virus in Zambia just not being tested….winter is coming and scientists are saying the virus becomes very aggressive in cold weather
We wish bojo a good recovery,God bless
What should we do? !!!! Annomous do you have an idea!!
Covid-19 is no joke….believe Chilufya’s cooked data at your own peril!!
@Redo.
Our Ministers and President need to step up the game and be truthful not just giving us vague data…no need to falsefy details just because they’re scared of the General public…the problem is that they are more worried about the upcoming General Elections…so giving Zambians falsfied COVID 19 data is one way of buying voters trust and confidence…..Chitalu Chilufya gets instructions from his boss Edgar Lungu…so what am saying is that there’s more COVID 19 cases or even Coronavirus deaths than what is being reported in Zambia…..Its about time we do away with Politics and tell Zambians the truth….I know People are dying of Coronavirus in Zambia and its being reported as Malaria or just some fever…….at the end of the day we just lying to ourselves
The government is doing a great work under constrained circumstances. We need to give credit where it’s due. The biggest challenge is us citizens. Are we observing the necessary preventative measures? We have clearly seen great examples from America, Italy and UK, that no matter how advanced the health care system and able leadership a nation can have, it can’t help much if the citizens are not doing the needful. As a professional working in research, I can confidently say that only time will vindicate the Zambian case. For now let’s stay safe and keep supporting our communities and government by adhering to the good preventative measures that have been put in place. Patriotism is the way to go.
You may keep secrets from your friends, from your parents, your children, your doctor – even your personal trainer – but it takes real effort to conceal your thoughts from Google.”- Boris Johnson
Whom would not want to work with this kind of thoughts.
When Boris Johnson name is mentioned reminds me of Roger Williams funder of the State of Rhode Island, when he ran from Massachusetts he ate corn paste as a survival food.
Mr Prime Minister please get well soon!!!
@Anonymous, Government is trying its best but its the People who are not taking preventive measures seriously and i coquer what has been put across by Rev. Ernest C. Bwalya. Your post doesn’t help much.
Ba Zambia, see how the public is updated about the British PM’s health, nomba pa Zed Edgar is flown to South Africa or dissapears for the long periods with out any update.To avoid rumours just update the public.
I wonder why he was not taken to hospital the moment he tested positive for the virus. Anyway quick recovery
I also do wonder if all the data is being captured from all the provinces and points of entry to Zambia. How many Chinese nationals have been scanned/tested since December 2019 for example?
Again, where is President Lungu?!!
I mean, lets be serious please!!
I for once commend Dr Chilfya and team excluding Dora for the great work done so far. Dr Chilufya has really saved the president’s face and proved to be presidential material in the near future. leadership is proved in a crisis.
I doubt that Boris has Covid-19.. it’s just PR.. come Thursday will have defeated the virus. The man was done, he was going to face tough questions on his handling of the crisis. But now he just proves that anyone can get it and he gets the publics sympathy.. and when he gets back to his day job as PM people will see him as Covid-19 survivor, view him as a fighter and the media/reporters will go soft on him.
Spiderly Existence – Zambia has no President – it only has a PF Chief Campaign Manager
All the best to the British PM. May he recover quickly.
Looks like there’s some hidden agenda behind all this Coronavirus…never trust Politicians especially when they’re working with WHO…..too much games….Politicians are very dangerous and now BoJo is fooling people…..i dont think he is even sick