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Donald Trump said today he is praying for Boris Johnson who is undergoing medical tests in hospital after he was unable to shake off coronavirus.
“All Americans are praying for him,” the US President told a news conference. “He’s a friend of mine, he’s a great gentleman and a great leader, and as you know he went to the hospital today … I’m sure he is going to be fine, he’s a strong man, a strong person.”
The pound fell against the dollar after it was announced last night that the Prime Minster, 55, had been taken to hospital. It lifted this morning when Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick confidently predicted the PM would be back at work “shortly” .
However, there was no indication from Downing Street when Mr Johnson would be out of hospital, nor what tests were being carried out. He did not require an ambulance, No 10 sources said, but they did not say how he travelled to hospital and did not comment on a Times report that the PM was “given oxygen treatment” en route to St Thomas’ near Westminster.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab took over as chairman of the daily morning emergency conference of ministers and officials leading the battle against Covid-19.
A claim by Conservative MP and former minister Tobias Ellwood that “day-to-day operations” were being handed to the Foreign Secretary was denied.
Medical experts said Mr Johnson would probably be given a heart scan and a lung examination, as well as checks on liver and kidney function.
The Prime Minister announced on March 27 that he had coronavirus and was self-isolating in the flat above 11 Downing Street while continuing to work by videophone.
He posted several video messages via Twitter which showed him looking under the weather and No 10 said he was still running a temperature.
Sarah Vine, the columnist wife of Cabinet minister Michael Gove, said: “Boris has worked non-stop throughout his illness — and now we see the result.”
Dr Rupert Beale, of the Francis Crick Institute, said: “Doctors will be monitoring important vital signs such as oxygen saturations. They will also check blood tests to see what the immune response to the virus looks like, and to assess liver and kidney function.
“They will perform an electrocardiogram (ECG) to check the heart. More sophisticated tests may include a CT scan of the chest to get an accurate picture of the lungs.
“They will consider the best way to deliver oxygen, and will also consider other treatments depending on test results.
“We are in a struggle between humanity and a deadly virus. Whatever your politics, we are all on the same side.”
Mr Johnson’s pregnant fiancée Carrie Symonds has said she is “on the mend” after a week in bed with coronavirus symptoms.
Lord Kerslake, a former head of the civil service, said it may be “sensible” for Mr Johnson to “step back”. In key developments:
- There were 301 deaths in London hospitals over the weekend, bringing the capital’s toll to 1,361. The number of hospital admissions now stands at 4,406, up 570 in a day. Nationally there have been 5,914 deaths and 47,806 confirmed cases.
- Concern rose for the safety of public transport staff after the deaths of five bus drivers in London who had tested positive for Covid-19. Rail union Aslef called for its drivers to be issued with masks and gloves. Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was “devastated” by the tragedy.
- Labour’s new shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds ruled out a “partisan knockabout” during the crisis , saying she would work constructively with Chancellor Rishi Sunak to make “changes made to some of those programmes” meant to protect families and firms during the crisis.
- Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon admitted it “may have been easier” to sack Scotland’s chief medical officer, Dr Catherine Calderwood, immediately after it emerged she had been flouting her own social distancing rules.
- New car sales plummeted in March by 44 per cent compared with a year ago , manufacturers and traders said. In another sign of the economic damage caused by lockdown, consumer confidence fell off a cliff in the last two weeks of March, tumbling at the fastest rate since records started more than 40 years ago, according to an index maintained by GfK.
- A 25 per cent surge in calls to the National Domestic Abuse helpline was reported by charity Refuge, fuelling fears about the plight of women forced to isolate with abusive partners.
