Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care after his condition worsened, Downing Street has said.
The prime minister was admitted to St Thomas' Hospital in London on Sunday night - 10 days after testing positive for coronavirus - due to "persistent" symptoms of COVID-19.
He was initially admitted for further tests but Mr Johnson's health has since deteriorated, Number 10 said.
The prime minister, 55, is understood to have experienced breathing difficulties on Monday afternoon and was given oxygen.
He remains conscious and has not been put on a ventilator, but was moved to intensive care as a precaution should he later need one.
The prime minister phoned Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to ask him to deputise "where necessary", a request made before Mr Johnson was moved to intensive care.
The Queen has been kept informed of the developments, a Buckingham Palace source told Sky News.
Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill spoke to ministers on a conference call on Monday night shortly before the news of the prime minister's health was announced.
One cabinet minister told Sky News the development was "deeply worrying and upsetting".
A Number 10 spokesman said: "Over the course of this 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 prime minister has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is the First Secretary of State, to deputise for him where necessary.
"The prime minister is receiving excellent care, and thanks all NHS staff for their hard work and dedication."
PM's video message from his virus isolation
It is understood the decision to move the prime minister to intensive care was made around 7pm on Monday.
This came shortly after Mr Raab had said, at the government's daily coronavirus briefing, that Mr Johnson was in "good spirits" after spending a "comfortable" night in hospital.
St Thomas' is across the River Thames from the Houses of Parliament.
Mr Johnson did not travel to the hospital by ambulance on Sunday night but travelled the short distance from Downing Street by "private transportation", the prime minister's official spokesman said earlier on Monday.
The prime minister was said to have received his ministerial red box containing his official papers and was continuing to lead the government and work from his hospital bed during the day on Monday, before his condition worsened.
The prime minister's pregnant fiancee Carrie Symonds revealed at the weekend that she had spent a week in bed with coronavirus symptoms.
Trump's message to a 'very good friend' as Johnson in intensive care
Mr Raab said there was an "incredibly strong team spirit" behind Mr Johnson, as he prepared to assume some of the prime minister's duties on Monday night.
"The government's business will continue," the foreign secretary said. "The prime minister is in safe hands with that brilliant team at St Thomas' hospital.
"The focus of the government will continue to be on making sure that the prime minister's direction - all the plans for making sure that we can defeat coronavirus and can pull the country through this challenge - will be taken forward."
Mr Raab chaired the daily morning meeting of the government's coronavirus "war cabinet" on Monday, which is usually led by Mr Johnson.
Tuesday's usual full cabinet meeting has been postponed, but Mr Raab will again be expected to chair the daily COVID-19 conference call.
Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading, told Sky News the prime minister was probably being supported with fluids in hospital.
"The NHS, particularly at this moment, doesn't give up intensive care beds just for people to be looked over - it doesn't work like that, even for prime ministers," he added.
"He would not be in intensive care unless he needed to be in intensive care, especially not at this time."
Image: Mr Johnson's pregnant fiancee Carrie Symonds has also suffered coronavirus symptoms
World leaders and UK political party leaders all sent their wishes to the prime minister on Monday night.
Newly-elected Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the deterioration in Mr Johnson's health was "terribly sad news".
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: "My thoughts are with the PM and his family - sending him every good wish."
London mayor Sadiq Khan said he was "praying for the prime minister's swift recovery".
He added St Thomas' Hospital "has some of the finest medical staff in the world, and he couldn't be in safer hands".
:: Listen to the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker
Former prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa May both sent their wishes to Mr Johnson.
"Get well soon. You are in great hands and we all want you safe, well and back in 10 Downing Street," Mr Cameron posted on Twitter.
And Mrs May tweeted: "My thoughts and prayers are with Boris Johnson and his family as he continues to receive treatment in hospital.
"This horrific virus does not discriminate. Anyone can get it. Anyone can spread it. Please #StayHomeSaveLives."
French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President Charles Michel also sent their wishes to Mr Johnson on social media, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he sent "a hug to all the British people".
US President Donald Trump sent his wishes to his "very good friend" Mr Johnson.
"We're very saddened to hear that he was taken into intensive care this afternoon, a little while ago," he said.
"Americans are all praying for his recovery, he's been a really good friend, he's been really something very special; strong, resolute, doesn't quit, doesn't give up."
narmerguy on April 6th, 2020 at 19:53 UTC »
A few thoughts on this change from someone who works in medicine. For folks saying this may just be a precaution, yes that's true. However, something to keep in mind is that in normal circumstances the ICU has a few specific benefits that can't be offered on the main floor:
Special Therapies : Ventillation is usually is managed in the ICU so if you suspect a patient may need an emergent intubation it is better to already have them in the right spot. You can also give special "drips" (medications that are not given as a one-time infusion but that constantly flow into a patient so you can change the rate minute-by-minute to try to respond to how the body is reacting/progressing). These and other special therapies can be helpful for everything from cardiac, renal, neurologic, or pulmonary function.
Nursing Ratio : On the hospital floor one nurse may cover 3-6 patients depending on the hospital. ICU nurses are highly experienced in dealing with very sick patients and usually cover only 1-2 patients because of the level of concentration and activity required for each patient.
Data collection : The ICU has tools and technology that facilitates easier data collection on a minute-by-minute basis (Heart rhythm, arterial blood pressures, respiratory function, etc etc). It's easier to keep track on data when a patient is in the ICU.
Intensivist Physicians : The physicians taking care of patients in the ICU are frequently trained (in the US at least) in both Pulmonology and in Intensive Care. They are able to do many different procedures on their own and have more experience with respiratory failure.
Now, what changes the equation here is that this is a Head of Government. So you can assume that the benefits of things like Nursing Ratio and Intensivist Physicians go out the window--he probably already had access to 1:1 nursing care at 10 Downing Street, and in the hospital probably had dedicated attention from an Intensive Care physician, if not multiple. So if he is being moved to the ICU, it is more likely that this is because his condition is such that the team is anticipating that his probability of needing special therapies has increased enough that they don't want to be caught by surprise outside the ICU. Or that they feel his condition has worsened enough compared to prior that they want closer monitoring on how his body is doing on a short time frame.
However, it is entirely possible that he never needs intubation and this is just the smart move to use increased resources to give themselves that extra bit of edge in anticipating problems before they come. ICU resources are expensive and normally a patient would never be moved to the ICU unless they clearly had a need for ICU level care. When it's a head of government, you can throw the cost concerns out the window (his death would cost far more money than an ICU bed).
EDIT: For folks circulating stats on mortality after ICU stay: It is not clear how this will pertain to someone like the PM. For the reasons I outlined above, he already had access to many of the benefits of ICU care when he was outside the ICU. So if he still requires ICU level care, one could argue his prognosis is worse. However, one could also argue that he is likely getting the benefits of ICU level care earlier than a normal patient, so he may have interventions that are able to prevent certain complications from developing. Similarly, a normal patient may not have been transferred to the ICU yet if not for being the PM, so he may be healthier than all the other ICU patients. It's too early to know, the data on this is too terrible, and I would not dwell on the numbers. The takeaway is that this is not a good development but who knows just how poor without access to better information (both about the PM and about all the other patients who have had COVID-19).
canyoutriforce on April 6th, 2020 at 19:27 UTC »
You don't hear about heads of governments going into ICUs often. This is fucking serious.
HWM_BlacKnight on April 6th, 2020 at 19:22 UTC »
Boris was admitted to hospital for checks yesterday which were likely chest x-rays, as his condition was not improving. This is the stage were a patient either typically recovers or starts deteriorating, as he was on Day 10.
See clinical progression below;
https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0140673620305663-gr1_lrg.jpg
Boris also has a number of risk factors that are against him, being older, overweight and having experience childhood Pneumonia.
edited for clarification * Graph illustrates the median duration of symptoms