LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital for tests on Sunday in what Downing Street said was a “precautionary step” because he was showing persistent symptoms of coronavirus 10 days after testing positive for the virus.
Johnson, who was isolating in Downing Street after testing positive last month, still had a high temperature and so his doctors felt he should go to hospital for tests. He remains in charge of the British government, his Downing Street office said.
“On the advice of his doctor, the prime minister has tonight been admitted to hospital for tests,” Downing Street said.
“This is a precautionary step, as the prime minister continues to have persistent symptoms of coronavirus ten days after testing positive for the virus,” the statement added.
News of his hospitalization came only after an hour after Queen Elizabeth delivered a rallying call to the British public saying they would overcome the coronavirus outbreak if they stayed resolute.
Johnson, 55, on March 27 became the first leader of a major power to announce that he had tested positive. He went into isolation at an apartment in Downing Street and said on Friday he was staying there as he still had a high temperature.
“Although I’m feeling better and I’ve done my seven days of isolation, alas I still have one of the symptoms, a minor symptom, I still have a temperature,” a weary-looking Johnson, sitting in a chair with his shirt open at the neck, said in a Twitter video message on Friday.
Downing Street underscored that this was not an emergency admission and that Johnson remains in charge of the government.
“Wishing the prime minister well and a speedy recovery,” Keir Starmer, the newly elected leader of the opposition Labour Party, said.
Johnson has faced criticism in the United Kingdom for initially approving a much more modest response to the novel coronavirus outbreak than other major European leaders.
But he swiftly changed tack when projections showed a quarter of a million people could die in the United Kingdom.
He effectively shuttered the world’s fifth-largest economy, advising people to stay at home and the elderly or infirm to isolate themselves for weeks.
But the virus penetrated the British government. Johnson and his health minister tested positive last month and his chief medical adviser also self isolated.
Carrie Symonds, Johnson’s 32-year-old pregnant fiancée, said on Saturday that she had spent the past week in bed with symptoms of the novel coronavirus but after seven days of rest felt stronger and was on the mend.
“The prime minister thanks NHS staff for all of 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,” Downing Street said.
The United Kingdom’s death toll from the coronavirus rose by 621 to 4,934, the health ministry said on Sunday.
UK PM Boris Johnson admitted to hospital with persistent coronavirus symptoms
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UK PM Boris Johnson admitted to hospital with persistent coronavirus symptoms
- Johnson, 55, on March 27 became the first leader of a major power to announce that he had tested positive
- News of his hospitalization came only after an hour after Queen Elizabeth delivered a rallying call to the British public
Zelensky blasts EU's lack of political will against Putin
- Ukrainian president says he reached agreement with Trump around post-war US security guarantees for his country
- In a fiery speech, he slammed his main political backers in Europe over their 'inaction'
DAVOS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday blasted the EU’s lack of “political will” in countering Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in a fiery address criticizing some of Kyiv’s top allies at the World Economic Forum.
The speech to the Davos elite came minutes after Zelensky had met with US President Donald Trump, a conversation he said had brought agreement about what post-war US security guarantees for Ukraine would look like.
Zelensky did not say what they included, only that they were “done” and were ready to be signed by the leaders and ratified by the Ukrainian parliament and US Congress.
But in a marked departure from his usual warm rhetoric toward the European Union, Kyiv’s main political and financial backers, Zelensky slammed what he cast as inaction.
“What’s missing: time or political will?” he said at one point, referencing delays over the establishment of a European war crimes tribunal on the Russian invasion.
He also said Europe, without mentioning any single country, was failing to agree on how to address global problems.
“There are endless internal arguments and things left unsaid that stop Europe from uniting and speaking honestly enough to find real solutions,” Zelensky told the forum.
“Instead of becoming a truly global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers,” he added.
Fresh talks
“Europe looks lost trying to convince the US President to change,” said Zelensky.
“But he will not change. President Trump loves who he is, and he says he loves Europe, but he will not listen to this kind of Europe,” he said.
Trump had hailed a “good” meeting with Zelensky in the Swiss ski resort, hours before his envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were due in Moscow for talks with Putin.
“This war has to end,” Trump told reporters including AFP when asked what message he was sending to the Russian leader.
Zelensky said the question of territory was the one outstanding issue in the talks to find an end to the war.
“It’s all about the eastern part of our country. It’s all about the land. This is the issue which we (have) not solved yet.”
He also said the United Arab Emirates would host “trilateral” talks on the Ukraine war Friday and Saturday with Ukrainian, US and Russian negotiators.
“It will be the first trilateral meeting in the Emirates,” said Zelensky, without elaborating on the format of the talks.
“Russians have to be ready for compromises,” he added.
Russia, which occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country’s eastern Donbas region as part of a deal — but Kyiv has warned ceding ground will embolden Moscow.
