Boris Johnson could be off work at least a MONTH as experts warn PM’s recovery from intensive care may last into summer

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The PM spent his second night in the intensive care unit last night, and his recovery could last into summer as he hands over the reigns of Downing Street to Dominic Raab.

Boris could be out of action for one to two months

Boris Johnson is in St Thomas’ Hospital with coronavirus

Patients who are ill enough to need intensive care treatment from coronavirus are looking at a long road to recovery – including the “fighter” PM.

Mr Johnson has had oxygen treatment in hospital but is breathing on his own and has not needed ventilation.

His fever may have finally started to come down in promising signs for his recovery.

A No10 spokesman has assured Brits the 55-year-old PM is in a stable condition and “remains in good spirits”.

Mr Johnson was first admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital on Sunday night, and transferred to the ICU on Monday.

Expert in Infectious Disease at the University of East Anglia Professor Paul Hunter told MailOnline: “If you have been sick enough to go on intensive care and you survive – and only about half of patients survive – clearly you will need some time to recover.”

He said: “I would expect most people who are that ill, to need at least a month or possibly two to be sufficiently back and to be able to function.”

Dr Hilary Jones warned it could take around two to three weeks for Mr Johnson to even begin to recover from the virus.

He said: “He’s likely to need, I would think, a minimum of two to three weeks to recover from this.”

A consultant of critical care medicine at the University Hospital Southampton Professor Mike Grocott warned spending time in the ICU could significantly impact Boris’ physical strength.

He said: “On average a person who spends a while in intensive care on oxygen therapy alone, but basically immobile, would have a decrease in physical function for a period of time, that was likely to extend into weeks.

“A period of inactivity will have an effect on physical function, typically characterised by a loss in muscle mass and strength.

“It depends on how bad the duration and magnitude of illness was and it also depends on the quality and amount of time invested in rehabilitation.

“We underestimate the value of just getting up and walking around and activity in normal life.”

The longer Mr Johnson is off sick, the more he will have to rely on the stand-in PM Mr Raab and the Cabinet to make huge decisions on how the nation deals with the crisis – including how and when to end the lockdown.

Dominic Raab will be the stand-in PM while Boris recovers
A cyclist in London wishes Boris Johnson well

If Mr Johnson was forced to rest and recover for an extended period time, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab would continue to take control of the government after he was asked to stand-in for the PM yesterday.

This means he would have extra powers such as chairing National Security meetings, but he would not have weekly meetings with the Queen.

He would also have to seek permission from the National Security Council in order to launch  any military action.

One father, Matt Dockray, 39 who was treated in ICU for COVID-19 said it was a “long road” of recovery.

He told Good Morning Britain: “There’s still a long road of recovery, it takes about six to eight weeks, but you can sit here and tell the tale and fight this.”

Mr Dockray was healthy before being infected.

He said: “There was a point where you sort of started to lose hope and thought that was it, because you’ve seen this on the TV, you’ve seen the pictures of Italy.

“In my head that was the time to say “you’ve just got to fight as much as you can”.

Mr Raab said last night any decisions made on ending the lockdown would be made collectively by Cabinet, and could not answer if he would overrule ministers if there was significant disagreement.

He said: “I’ve been given a clear steer from the PM — very clear instructions in terms of dealing with coronavirus.

“He’s asked me to deputise for him for as long as is necessary, but the normal cabinet collective responsibility and principles that inform that will apply.”

Power of Britain’s nuclear arsenal, which normally rests with the PM, would sit with Mr Raab and the Cabinet if needed.

Mr Raab will also be chairing the Cobra meetings where decisions on extending lockdown are expected to be reviewed later this week.

Decisions will be informed by experts’ assessments on the scale of the outbreak.

But Mr Raab will ultimately need to make a political call over extending them and restricting individual’s freedom.

Even people who have not needed hospitalisation for suspected cases of coronavirus have said they were “knocked sideways” by the disease for 10 days or more.