Boris Johnson stable in ICU as UK virus deaths pass 7,000

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is “responding to treatment” but remains in intensive care with the new coronavirus, his spokesman said Wednesday.

The UK government, meanwhile, sought to keep a grip on its response to the pandemic with its leader in hospital and the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths continuing to grow.

Johnson has spent two nights in the ICU of St Thomas’ Hospital.

He was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26 and still had a cough and fever 10 days later.

He was admitted to the hospital on Sunday and moved to the ICU on Monday after his condition deteriorated.

Johnson spokesman James Slack said the prime minister continues to receive “standard oxygen treatment” and is breathing without any other assistance.

Slack declined to provide further details of Johnson’s treatment, saying Wednesday’s update “was given to us by St Thomas’ Hospital and it contains all of the information which the PM’s medical team considers to be clinically relevant.”

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is standing in for Johnson while he is hospitalised.

Raab chaired a meeting of the government’s COVID-19 crisis committee, as the number of virus-related deaths reported in the UK approached the levels seen in the worst-hit European nations, Italy and Spain.

The country’s confirmed death toll reached 6,159 as of Tuesday, an increase of 786 from 24 hours earlier.

That was the biggest daily leap to date, although the deaths reported Tuesday occurred over several days.