BORIS Johnson spent a second night in hospital under observation for coronavirus as he made clear that he was in “good spirits” and remained in charge of the UK Government from his sick bed.
As the Prime Minister underwent tests at St Thomas’s Hospital in London, Dominic Raab, at the daily Downing St briefing, was asked why if his colleague was ill enough to be in hospital, how could he be well enough to run the country.
The Foreign Secretary, who revealed he had last spoken to Mr Johnson on Saturday, replied: “He still remains in charge of the Government and we are getting on with all of the various strands of work to make sure at home and abroad we can defeat the virus and pull the country through coronavirus…”
He stressed the Government team was "full throttle making sure his directions and his instructions are being implemented and followed through whether it's the purchase of ventilators through to the diplomatic effort to return UK nationals who are stranded abroad".
Earlier from his hospital bed Mr Johnson, still experiencing a high temperature 10 days on, tweeted: “I'm in good spirits and keeping in touch with my team as we work together to fight this virus and keep everyone safe.” He praised the NHS staff looking after him, describing them as the “best of Britain”.
Mr Raab, who on Monday morning chaired the so-called Covid-19 “war Cabinet,” used the No 10 briefing to stress the Government first had to make sure the outbreak had peaked before it could begin to ease any of the lockdown restrictions. It is thought this could happen over the Easter weekend.
Asked about when the lockdown restrictions might begin to be lifted, he said: “Our priority right now is to stop the spread and make sure we can get past the peak; that’s the overriding focus of the Government right now.” Other considerations could be made later.
At her Covid-19 briefing, Nicola Sturgeon wished the PM a “very speedy recovery” on behalf of her Government and “I’m sure all of the people of Scotland”. The First Minister said that the fact Mr Johnson was undergoing hospital tests for the virus should it did not discriminate.
In Washington, Donald Trump, describing Mr Johnson as a “great friend of mine," told reporters: "I'm sure he is going to be fine, he's a strong man, a strong person."
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