Boris Johnson's condition 'improving' as he fights coronavirus in intensive care
2 min read
Boris Johnson's condition is "improving" and he has been sitting up in bed talking to doctors treating him for coronavirus.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the Prime Minister was "engaging positively" with medics as he prepared to spend his third night in the intensive care unit at St Thomas's Hospital in London.
Downing Street had earlier said that Mr Johnson was "responding to treatment", raising hopes that he was beating the potentially-deadly illness.
The PM was admitted to hospital on Sunday before being moved to the intensive care ward on Monday evening after his condition "worsened".
But speaking at the daily Downing Street press conference, Mr Sunak gave a positive update on the Prime Minister's health, saying: "He is receiving excellent care from the NHS team at St Thomas’s.
"The latest from the hospital is that the Prime Minister remains in intensive care where his condition is improving.
"I can also tell you that he has been sitting up in bed and engaging positively with the clinical team."
He added: "The Prime Minister is not only my colleague and my boss but also my friend and my thoughts are with him and his family."
It came as Mr Sunak announced a major new £750m funding package to help charities survive the crisis.
He added: "The news about the Prime Minister reminds us how indiscriminate this disease is.
"Nearly everyone will know someone who’s been affected; friends, family, neighbours, colleagues.
"This is a terrible virus that respects no boundaries of status or geography or vocation.
"But we are not facing it alone."
'CURVE FLATTENING'
Meanwhile, deputy chief scientific adviser Anglea McLean said there were signs that the lockdown is helping to take pressure of the NHS.
Pointing to data on the number of Covid-19 sufferers needing a hospital bed, she said: "What we see is that the rate at which this is rising is defeinitely getting slower and it looks like we’re beginning to get towards a flat curve there which is of course what we’ve all wanted."
And on the number requiring critical care, Ms McLean added: "There we can see encouraging news that at least perhaps in some parts of the country this really has started to flatten.
"Across the country over the last 24 hours this has increased by just 4% And again that is good news because this is our most limiting resource at the moment."
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