United Kingdom PM Boris Johnson has been taken to the hospital for Covid-19 tests after persistent corona symptoms, announced Downing Street on Sunday.
“On the advice of his doctor, the Prime Minister has tonight been admitted to hospital for tests,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement while adding that the tests were part of a “precautionary step” as the symptoms were not vanishing.
British PM is expect to stay in hospital overnight, a Downing Street source revealed to CNN. Johnson, 55 had earlier on March 27 announced that he had received a positive after the test adding that he is suffering from cough and fever. Giving an update on Friday, he said that he continued to experience a temperature.
According to Downing Street Sunday’s statement, the “Prime Minister continues to have persistent symptoms of coronavirus 10 days after testing positive for the virus.”
“The Prime Minister thanks NHS staff for all their incredible hard work and urges the public to continue to follow the Government’s advice to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives,” the statement added.
Johnson had been involved in the work from home during his isolation and remains active despite his recent hospitalization.
Medical Analyst Dr. Kent Sepkowitz who works as a physician at Memorial Sloan Kattering in New York and professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College said hospital visits could be needed and are necessary for CT scan of the chest and other sophisticated blood testing.
A hospital-grade test of blood oxygen could assess “several more variables of lung function and might indicate whether he is just fatigued and spent, or actually in some danger,” the analyst linked with CNN said.
A number of people linked with Johnson have also had their tests positive and experienced strong symptoms of the disease. Carrie Symonds, his pregnant partner also caught the symptoms from the infection and over the weekend announced her recovery.
Through her twitter account Symonds, 32 encouraged other pregnant women to follow health guidelines and confirmed that she had not been screened positive for the infection.
“I’ve spent the past week in bed with the main symptoms of Coronavirus. I haven’t needed to be tested and, after seven days of rest, I feel stronger and I am on the mend,” she wrote in her tweet.
Secretary of state for health, Matt Hancock on March 27 revealed that he had the virus in him and chief medical officer Chris Whitty announced his self-isolation after displaying symptoms.
Mr. Johnson went late on the implementation of social-distancing measures in United Kingdom and only a few weeks ago shook hands with the Covid-19 patients after visiting them at a hospital. The country was criticized by European neighbors for going slow on the lockdown and adopting of restrictive measures. (www.softlay.com) Government and NHS are now gearing up to increase the testing and enforce effective social distancing to counter the pandemic in their boundaries.
