Prime Minister Boris Johnson is tonight
in intensive care at st. Thomas's
Hospital in London suffering from the
effects of coronavirus the Johnson was
admitted last night but his office says
his condition worsened during the course
of this afternoon and on the advice of
his medical team he was moved to the
intensive care unit earlier today the
prime minister who's 55 was said to be
in good spirits receiving treatment for
what were called persistent symptoms
including a temperature and a cough he
tested positive for the disease ten days
ago
the foreign secretary Dominic Robb has
been asked to deputize for the prime
minister where necessary let's start
tonight by going live to our political
editor Laura keansburg at Westminster
here we've been in a rather strange
vacuum for much of the day with very
limited amounts of information about how
Boris Johnson was after he was taken to
hospital last night we were told this
morning he was in good spirits even that
he was still receiving red boxes full of
government business and still in touch
with his team but shortly after 8
o'clock an official statement from
Downing Street with a very different
tone it's said to be as a precaution the
Prime Minister is said to be conscious
but Boris Johnson tonight just across
the Thames is in intensive care less
than a mile from Downing Street Boris
Johnson is in intensive care tonight in
a personal fight against the virus that
the government and the country is trying
to beat we'd have known on Thursday
night that the health workers he
applauded would be caring for him like
this brief glimpses of Boris Johnson on
social media made it clear he was
struggling to shake the virus off my
seven days of isolation alas I still
have one of the symptoms of - symptom of
I have a temperature and so now after
being admitted to hospital last night
for tests he is conscious but as a
precaution
Danny Street says has been moved to
intensive care and the Foreign Secretary
has been asked to step up for now during
the course of this afternoon the Prime
Minister's condition worsened and on the
advice of the medical team he was moved
in to a critical care unit with the
Prime Minister now in intensive care
this is obviously an extremely serious
situation I mean how
how worried should people be about his
health and about who's in charge of the
government well the government's
business will continue and the Prime
Minister is in safe hands with the
brilliant team absent Thomas's hospital
and the focus of the government will
continue to be on making sure at the
Prime Minister's Direction all the plans
for making sure that we can defeat
coronavirus and pull the country through
this challenge will be taken forward are
you confident know that the government
is under control tonight there's an
incredibly strong team spirit behind the
Prime Minister and making sure that we
get all of the plans that the Prime
Minister's instructed us to deliver to
get them implemented as soon as possible
and that's the way we will bring the
whole country through the ground at
coronavirus challenge that we face right
now just after 8 o'clock the official
statement came from Downing Street
saying over the course of this afternoon
the condition of the Prime Minister has
worsened and on the advice of his
medical team he's been moved to the
intensive care unit at the hospital the
Prime Minister has asked the foreign
secretary Dominic Raab who is the first
secretary of state to deputize for him
where necessary the Prime Minister is
receiving excellent care and thanks all
and it has staff for their hard work and
dedication good wishes from friends and
rivals of Boris Johnson's flooded online
within minutes from the First Minister
of Scotland and the brand-new Labour
leader and from someone who knows him
and the unique job very well the Prime
Minister is now suffering seriously from
a disease that does not pick and choose
Downing Street itself a place where the
virus spread power no protection from
harm Lawrenceburg BBC News talked to
Laura in a second but first let's go to
Vicky young our chief political
correspondent at st. Thomas's Hospital
where the Prime Minister's been treated
what can you add Vicky at this stage to
what the hospital authorities are saying
there about the Prime Minister's
condition well after nine days in
self-isolation he came under the care of
doctors here last night and was admitted
to hospital now we know that he has been
suffering from his persistent cough and
temperatures something he couldn't shake
off which is why he was brought into
hospital in the first place and as were
saying Sam Thomas's hospital is one of
the top hospitals in the country it's
just across the bridge from the houses
of parliament now we were told by
Downing Street area the Prime Minister
was working from his hospital bed here
we understand that he was given oxygen
before that decision was made to move
him to intensive care now we're told
that that has been done as a precaution
it's been done in case he needed
ventilation to aid his recovery now like
thousands of other families who have
been affected by the corona virus this
is extremely worrying time for him and
for his family especially of course his
fiancee who is pregnant and has been
suffering with symptoms of the corona
virus herself
Vicki many thanks Vicki there at st.
Thomas's let's go back across the river
to Westminster and Laura's there for us
Laura you asked mr. ARP directly about
the functioning of government what did
you make of the answer well I think
Dominic Rob perhaps not so very
surprisingly looked pretty shocked by
how things have been moving tonight the
foreign secretary now is technically in
charge as he is the Prime Minister's
official understudy and he has been
requested by Downing Street to deputize
for him as and when and government
insiders are pretty confident they say
that the way that the cabinet committees
have been designed to try to deal with
coronavirus into four different groups
looking at all the important elements
that will continue to take over one
cabinet minister has said to me that the
decision-making was pretty crisp pretty
efficient and this had been happening
whoever was in charge but a prime
minister of course is much more than a
political mascot there of course also
the most senior decision-maker in any
government and at a time when there are
so many dilemmas about the health and
the wealth of the country this is
obviously a very serious moment for the
government and the Whitehall machine
even for the prime minister who was
popping up every now and again trying to
sort of say that he was fine and he was
getting better throughout this suit has
created a sense already of not that much
stability with him being ill and even
just when he was in the dining street
flat but now with him in intensive care
tonight even though we should emphasise
it said to be as a precaution this is
obviously a grave moment one that's very
unsettling for the government at a time
like this which is a genuine national
emergency irrespective of your politics
of course this is clearly a terrible
time for the government to be without
its figurehead Laura we'll talk again
later thank you very much Laura Ginsberg
there for us at Westminster
so as we heard prime minister's
condition worsened during the course of
the afternoon and that was when the
medical team decided it was best to move
him into the st. Thomas's intensive care
unit so let's talk to our health editor
Hugh pin that Hugh lots of people will
assume automatically that going into
intensive care will involve a ventilator
and all the other apparatus that that
we've seen in reports would that
assumption be correct well normally yes
Hume we should say it's the sickest
patients who go into intensive care so
clearly this is a cause for concern but
the Downing Street statement made clear
it was a precaution
he'd been moved to intensive carrots and
Thomas's should he require ventilation
to aid his recovery that suggests he's
not on a mechanical ventilator to help
his breathing which would require
sedation but he will be requiring oxygen
through a mask or nasally now he'll be
continuously monitored oxygen levels in
his blood his kidney function and heart
rate will be a nursing ratio probably of
one to one in intensive care those
ratios have been pushed back a bit
because of pressure through kovat 19
patient numbers there'll be consultants
on call through the night to monitor his
condition to see how things are getting
on and I should say the teammates and
Tomas's are experienced in Kovac 19 they
were one of the first hospitals to take
patients with coronavirus in early
february as a specialist infectious
diseases center we'll have another
update from you later Hugh thanks very
much for now