Coronavirus: Boris Johnson stable and ‘in good spirits’ in hospital
Prince William also tweeted a personal message of sympathy to the PM’s family, signing it off with his initial “W”, while his father, the Prince of Wales, sent a message from himself and the Duchess of Cornwall wishing Mr Johnson a “speedy recovery”, Clarence House said.
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In a statement on Tuesday, a Downing Street spokesman said: “The prime minister has been stable overnight and remains in good spirits. He is receiving standard oxygen treatment and is breathing without any other assistance.
“He has not required mechanical ventilation or non-invasive respiratory support.”
A ventilator takes over the body’s breathing process when disease has caused the lungs to fail.
Mr Johnson does not have pneumonia, Downing Street added.
Dr Jon Bennett, president of the British Thoracic Society, said it was “heartening” the PM was receiving “standard oxygen treatment” – through his nose or via a face mask – because in more serious cases it would be delivered through mechanical support, such as continuous positive airway pressure, high flow nasal oxygen or more invasive ventilators.
The spokesman said that the mood in government is “determined”, and ministers have a very clear plan set out by Mr Johnson for responding to the pandemic.
The prime minister’s weekly audience with the Queen will not go ahead, although she will be kept regularly informed about his condition, the spokesman added.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Gove pledged that if there is any change in his condition “No 10 will ensure the country is updated”.
Today’s figures are a record high and bring the currently reported death toll above 6,000 for the first time. The rise of 786 is higher than Saturday’s previous peak of 708 deaths reported in a single day.
We also know that this figure misses deaths that occurred but have not yet been reported, so the true death toll at this point is likely higher.
If there is any silver lining to these grim figures, it is that they represent the fourth day in a row of below-trend growth.
For weeks up until Friday’s figures, the number of deaths had been doubling every three and a half days. Had that trend continued, we would have seen close to 1,400 deaths today.
So 786 is better than that, although it’s still too soon to know what’s causing it. It could be a big bottleneck in reporting (we’ve seen that after previous weekends) or genuine evidence that growth is truly slowing down.
More hopefully, for almost a week, daily new cases have been holding steady at about 4,000 a day, suggesting that, while we are still seeing new cases, the growth in this figure could be stalling.
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