British Prime Minister Boris Johnson 'responding to treatment' for coronavirus

Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY
·2 min read

LONDON – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is "responding to treatment" after he spent a second night in intensive care with coronavirus, his office said Wednesday.

Johnson, 55, is being cared for in St Thomas' Hospital in central London, where he is in a stable condition and remains in "good spirits," Downing Street said in a statement.

The prime minister's spokesman James Slack said Johnson is continuing to receive "standard oxygen treatment" and is breathing without a ventilator or other assistance.

Slack did not provide any further details, but during a daily coronavirus briefing Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Britain's top treasury official, said that Johnson was "sitting up in bed and engaging positively with the clinical team."

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Johnson was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26 and still had a cough and fever 10 days later. He was admitted to St. Thomas’ Hospital on Sunday, and its ICU on Monday.

Johnson is not working while he is ill and Britain's leader has appointed Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to stand in for him while he is hospitalized.

Britain's death toll reached 7,097 as of Wednesday, according to Public Health England, an increase of 938 from 24 hours earlier, and the biggest daily increase to date.

Still, the number of virus-related deaths reported in Britain is approaching levels seen in the worst-hit European nations, Italy and Spain. Johnson controversially advocated a softer approach to combating the virus before switching strategies and imposing a national lockdown that has shuttered all but essential stores and forced millions inside.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth gave a rare public address to the nation on Sunday.

Some of her words appeared on a billboard in central London on Wednesday: "We will be with our friends again; we will be with our families gain; we will meet again," it read.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus: Boris Johnson 'responding to treatment' for COVID-19