UK virus crisis takes dramatic turn with Boris Johnson in ICU

Bloomberg

The UK is facing a leadership crisis as it heads into the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, with Boris Johnson in intensive care and his government under pressure to get a grip on the outbreak.
The 55-year-old prime minister was taken to the hospital on April 05 for routine tests after struggling to shake off Covid-19, but his condition worsened during April 6. The pound fell after the government announced he had been moved to the facility for the most seriously ill patients.
Johnson was receiving oxygen treatment at St Thomas’ Hospital in London to help his breathing, but was conscious and not on a ventilator, officials said. The prime minister has not been intubated and received less oxygen than normally required by patients in intensive care, The Times of London reported, citing sources at the hospital.
There was no change to his condition overnight, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Foreign secretary Dominic Raab is now deputising for Johnson.
“There’s an incredibly strong team spirit behind the prime minister — and making sure that we get all of the plans the prime minister’s instructed us to deliver, to get them implemented as soon as possible,” Raab said in a pooled television interview.
The prime minister’s deteriorating health intensifies the difficulties facing the country as it prepares for cases to climb over the next 10 days. More than 5,000 people have died in the UK from the virus, and the nation remains in lockdown while the health service attempts to fill shortages of workers and vital medical kit, such as ventilators and protective masks.
Adding to the government’s woes, cabinet minister Michael Gove — a key member of Johnson’s top team — went into self-isolation after a family member displayed symptoms of coronavirus, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Gove has no symptoms himself and is continuing to work, the person said.
Raab and the rest of the cabinet face a series of key decisions in the days ahead — on the process for easing the national lockdown, and whether restrictions on people’s movements should be lifted, extended or tightened even further.

Trump Support
It’s an extraordinary turn of events for Johnson. Just over two months ago, he was at the peak of his powers, celebrating Britain’s departure from the European Union after scoring an emphatic election victory.
US President Donald Trump, a supporter of Johnson, said at a press briefing that he’d told pharmaceutical companies to get in touch with London
to offer help. Trump cited “rather complex” therapeutic treatments for the virus with “really incredible results,” but didn’t specify them.
“When you get brought into intensive care, that gets very, very serious with this particular disease,” Trump said.
With Johnson out of action, the untested Raab will now need to get a grip on the government machine and coordinate the pandemic response.
Britain’s strategy for defeating coronavirus has already come under strain, with ministers accepting they had not done enough to test people for infections.
Johnson himself was criticised by medical experts and members of his own Conservative Party for failing to act quickly enough to close schools and ban public gatherings.