BORIS Johnson has been admitted to hospital after failing to shake off coronavirus symptoms 10 days after testing positive.
Downing Street said the 55-year-old PM had gone to hospital for tests as a “precautionary step”.
He continues to have “persistent symptoms” of the virus – understood to be a high temperature.
No10 insiders would only say the PM had been admitted to an NHS hospital in London – though was not taken by ambulance – and did not disclose the location.
The closest hospital to Downing Street is St Thomas’ across Westminster.
He is understood to be staying overnight, with officials saying he will stay in hospital “as long as necessary”.
Monday’s Covid-19 war cabinet meeting will be chaired by the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab for the first time instead of Mr Johnson.
But Downing Street insisted Mr Johnson remained in charge of the Government and is still in contact with ministerial colleagues and officials.
It is understood that Mr Raab will take over as caretaker PM if Mr Johnson is unable to continue in charge.
‘PURELY PRECAUTIONARY’
Downing Street has insisted that the PM’s hospital admission was for “purely precautionary reasons” and was not an emergency admission.
They said it was considered sensible for doctors to see the Prime Minister in person given he has ongoing symptoms.
Mr Johnson, 55, was said to be in good health before contracting the virus.
However, some aides became increasingly worried about the PM’s health when he continued to show symptoms seven days after testing positive.
GP Dr Ellie Cannon said the most common reason coronavirus patients are admitted to hospital was for “signs of breathlessness”.
But she said other reasons for his failure to rid the symptoms could be due to unknown underlying health conditions.
The doctor said having the virus beyond 10 days is a “red flag” and said the PM would likely be having X-rays on his chest to discover if he has any respiratory problems.
Dr Cannon said some patients who had failed to get rid of the symptoms had developed a bacterial infection on top of the virus, which could explain complications.
The PM’s last on-camera engagement with the public was on Friday, when he recorded a Twitter video telling viewers he still had symptoms so was following Public Health England guidance to stay in self-isolation.
His voice sounded croaky and he appeared exhausted.
Dr Cannon told Sky News: “The breathlessness is a worrying sign of severe illness and can happen at any point of the illness, it can happen on Day seven or Day 10.”
A seperate GP, Dr Sarah Jarvis, said it is likely the Prime Minister has “moderate” symptoms of coronavirus.
Speaking with the BBC, she said: “The majority of people who develop coronavirus will have mild symptoms – that’s probably 80% or so.
“The older you become the more likely it is that you will become severely unwell with this.
“There is a severe stage, a moderate stage and a critical stage.”
Dr Jarvis, who is not Mr Johnson’s doctor, added: “Given he is staying in charge of the Government, that suggests to me that he probably has moderate disease but that, as a precaution, he is being taken in to check the oxygen levels in his blood, to do X-rays and probably scans of his chest.
“And to do blood tests to see for instance what his white cell counts look like and what his liver functions look like.”
Late on Sunday night a Downing Street spokesman announced: “On the advice of his doctor, the Prime Minister has tonight been admitted to hospital for tests.
“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 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.”
Yesterday the Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who recovered after also testing positive for coronavirus last week, insisted the PM was “OK” but still had a temperature.
And he said he did not know whether the PM had been seen by a doctor.
‘COUGHING & SPLUTTERING’
Government aides said the PM had been “coughing and spluttering” on video conference calls over the last few days.
Mr Johnson was due to end his seven days of self-isolation last Friday but was still recording a high temperature so continued to stay holed up in his No11 flat in accordance with Public Health guidance.
Mr Hancock said the contrast in how he and Mr Johnson had suffered exposed how difficult to predict and dangerous the virus was.
Asked about the PM’s health, the Health Secretary told Sky News: “He’s okay, I’ve been talking to him every day, often several times a day, throughout this, throughout the time that both of us were off and so he has very much got his hand on the tiller but he has still got a temperature.
“In a way it shows this virus affects different people differently.
“I was lucky, I had two pretty rough days and then I bounced back and some people do get it pretty mildly, and then for others it’s very, very serious and the Prime Minister is not at that end of the spectrum.”
Mr Hancock added: “He’s working away inside Downing Street but he is protecting others by making sure that he too follows the clear public health advice, which is to self-isolate if you have got symptoms.”
Yesterday, Boris Johnson’s partner Carrie Symonds revealed she has been suffering from coronavirus symptoms.
Despite keeping away from the infected PM, the 32-year-old, who falls into the high-risk category, announced that she had spent the past week bedbound.
