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UK Prime Minister remains in ICU

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Boris Johnson’s fight with COVID-19 has moved into intensive care, and Downing Street is now running without him at the wheel.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains in the intensive care unit at St Thomas’ Hospital in London after his coronavirus symptoms took a sharp turn for the worse. The 55-year-old leader tested positive for COVID-19 on March 27 and spent ten days isolating at 10 Downing Street before doctors ordered him into hospital. His deteriorating condition has now forced him to hand the reins of the UK’s pandemic response to his Foreign Secretary.

• Johnson was admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital on the evening of Sunday, April 5, on his medical team’s advice after suffering a persistent high fever and cough.
• He was moved into intensive care around 7:00 p.m. on Monday, April 6, to keep him close to ventilators; Downing Street says he is conscious, breathing with oxygen support, and has not needed invasive mechanical ventilation.
• Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State Dominic Raab has been asked to deputise “where necessary,” including chairing the government’s daily COVID-19 response meetings.

From Downing Street Isolation to St Thomas’ Hospital

Johnson announced his positive test on March 27 and initially tried to keep governing from isolation, appearing on video calls and posting updates from Downing Street. But the fever and cough that had put him in bed for over a week did not clear, and by Sunday evening his medical team decided he needed to be seen in person. Officials at the time described the admission as precautionary, framing it as a trip for “routine tests” rather than a sign of a serious downturn.

That framing held for less than a day. Johnson tweeted Monday morning that he was in “good spirits,” but his condition worsened over the course of the afternoon, and by evening doctors had decided intensive care was the safer place for him.

The Move Into Intensive Care

Downing Street confirmed Johnson was transferred to the ICU at St Thomas’ just after 7:00 p.m. on April 6 as a precaution, so he would be near ventilators if his breathing worsened further. Officials were careful to specify what had and had not happened: he remained conscious, he was receiving oxygen support, and he had not been put on a ventilator. That distinction — oxygen support rather than mechanical ventilation — has become the central detail in every update from Number 10 since the transfer.

He remained conscious, was receiving oxygen support, and had not required invasive mechanical ventilation, Downing Street said.

Dominic Raab Steps Into the Void

With the Prime Minister sidelined, Johnson personally asked Dominic Raab to deputise for him “where necessary.” That includes leading the government’s daily coronavirus meetings and coordinating decisions on the UK’s lockdown measures at a moment when the country is seeing a sharp acceleration in case numbers. Raab, who also holds the title of First Secretary of State, is now the public face of a government trying to manage both a health crisis and the sudden absence of its leader.

The situation echoes the strain governments elsewhere have faced when senior officials fall ill in the middle of a crisis response, a pattern that’s shown up repeatedly as officials in other countries have contracted the virus while trying to lead their nation’s response.

A Nation and Its Allies Watching Closely

Buckingham Palace confirmed Queen Elizabeth II is being kept closely informed of Johnson’s condition by Downing Street. Abroad, U.S. President Donald Trump offered his support as word of the ICU transfer spread, part of a wave of concern from world leaders as Britain works through the same surge in infections that has forced stricter restrictions in country after country. The political stakes are unusual: Johnson isn’t just a head of government sidelined by illness, he’s the man who was, until this week, personally narrating the UK’s daily response to the outbreak.

For now, the country is waiting on the next update from St Thomas’ — the one that says whether the oxygen support has been enough, or whether Raab’s “where necessary” mandate is about to get a lot more necessary.