Contagion puts UK PM in intensive care

The United Kingdom's foreign secretary took over the reins of government on Monday evening after Prime Minister Boris Johnson's COVID-19 symptoms worsened and he was taken to an intensive care unit.

The UK government said Dominic Raab, as first secretary of state, would stand in "where necessary".

Raab began by chairing the government's daily COVID-19 meeting on Tuesday, after saying Johnson was "in very good hands".

Downing Street said Johnson was moved to the intensive care unit on the advice of his medical team at around 7 pm on Monday.

The Times said one unnamed government minister described his rapid deterioration as "truly shocking", while the Daily Mail said Carrie Symonds, the prime minister's pregnant partner, was in "agony" because she could not visit him due to social distancing restrictions.

Johnson was admitted to St Thomas' Hospital, close to his central London home, on Sunday evening with "persistent symptoms", after he spent a week in isolation at home with symptoms he described as "mild". He had said on social media on Monday he was in "good spirits", prompting the French newspaper Le Monde to say that, despite the optimism, the disease had "caught up" with him.

The BBC said the prime minister was given around 13 liters of oxygen on Monday afternoon, before he was taken to the intensive care unit. It said he was moved in case he would need a ventilator, although Downing Street said he had not needed one as of Tuesday morning.

Newspapers widely reported that Johnson was conscious on Tuesday morning and Cabinet member Michael Gove promised "Number 10 will ensure the country is updated".

A statement from the prime minister's office 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."

The statement thanked "all NHS staff for their hard work and dedication".

Keir Starmer, the newly elected leader of the opposition Labour Party, said the news was "terribly sad".

"All the country's thoughts are with the prime minister and his family," he said.

Johnson, 55, also received messages of support from world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump, who described Johnson as a good friend, said people in the US were "all praying for his recovery". Macron said he and his nation were sending their "support to Boris Johnson, to his family and to the British people at this difficult moment".

Will Walden, a close friend of Johnson's and his former director of communications, said on BBC Radio that he is "far fitter than he looks".

"He will whip anybody's backside on a tennis court," he said. "He runs regularly, he doesn't smoke, he drinks moderately; so, I think if anyone is in a good position both physically and mentally to fight off the disease then the prime minister is that person."

Former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith said Johnson's illness shows "we are all susceptible to the novel coronavirus" and the COVID-19 respiratory disease it causes. He said Johnson's illness should remind people not to break social distancing rules.

"If the most powerful man in Britain can come down with this, so can you," the BBC quoted him as saying.

The UK's newspapers were understandably dominated by Johnson's condition, with the Daily Mirror leading with the headline "Sick Boris faces fight for his life".