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UK PRIME MINISTER Boris Johnson appears to be on the road to recovery after leaving intensive care – while ministers have urged people not to “ruin” the UK’s progress on coronavirus by flouting lockdown laws this Easter weekend.
Positive news on Johnson’s health emerged yesterday evening as Downing Street said that he had returned to the ward at St Thomas’ Hospital following three nights in intensive care.
He was said to be in “extremely good spirits” and is continuing to be closely monitored during the “early phase” of his recovery from Covid-19.
It came as the UK government launched a publicity drive to urge people to stay at home during the bank holiday weekend, when the weather is expected to remain warm and sunny.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who has been deputising for Johnson, earlier warned that it was still too soon for ministers to begin lifting the strict social distancing rules introduced last month.
“After all the sacrifices so many people have made, let’s not ruin it now,” he said at the daily Downing Street press conference.
“We mustn’t give the coronavirus a second chance to kill more people and hurt our country.”
Meanwhile, police warned they were ready to take action against those who flout the coronavirus lockdown rules.
Downing Street offered the government’s “full backing” to police forces seeking to enforce the restrictions over the holiday period.
But there was a rebuke for Northamptonshire Chief Constable Nick Adderley after he suggested his force could mount road blocks and search shopping trolleys to check if people were going out to buy non-essential items.
Home Secretary Priti Patel told talkRADIO: “That is not appropriate, let me be clear on that. That is not the guidance.”
The warning came as the latest official figures showed the number of hospital patients in the UK who had died after testing positive for Covid-19 had risen to 7,978 as of 5pm on Wednesday – an increase of 881 on the previous day.
Churches
One British MP has questioned why churches will be forced to keep their doors closed on Easter Sunday while off-licences will be allowed to open.
Jack Lopresti, the Conservative representative for Filton and Bradley Stoke, wrote to the government to ask them to reconsider allowing to open “for private prayer”.
However, his open letter to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has led to criticism, and one bishop said “God always does a door-to-door service”.
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I think he may have a new perspective on this pandemic …and hopefully some other things .
@John Quill: wouldn’t bet on it
@Brian Dunne: On past form, unlikely. He’ll have Dom back in no time to tell him what to do.
@John Quill: Let’s hope so! :)
@John Quill: Yes, I’d say when he was moved to ICU, the thought of dying must have crossed his mind. He would have also seen people dying around him. We will see a very different Boris Johnson when he returns to office.
@Peter Cavey: Supposedly he was never in as much trouble as the average Joe Soap who ends up in ICU. I don’t think this will change Boris, that’s not how he works. He plays the fool because that’s what works for him and his voting tally.
So now he is a real super hero who has suffered greatly in the trenches as opposed to an absolute bumbling thicko who gloates about shaking hands with virus sufferers and advocates herd immunity. Ok then..
Glad hes ok but he still makes me angry. He gave himself the virus with his complete negligence
good luck
@Seanboy: Muppet.
It pains me to say it but I still think, each an every government will sooner rather than later will decide a certain amount of deaths per week is excepted in the face of getting their economy’s going again, this will either cause a 2nd spread or a manageable spread that they can justify as low body count all in the name of Money
@Karllye kripton: the virus isn’t going anywhere, so we need a manageable spread. Restrictions will have to be relaxed again slightly and step by step, nothing to do with the economy. The alternative is a complete lockdown until a vaccine has been developed, tested, produced AND administered to the whole population.
@Karllye kripton: Further outbreaks are expected as part of this pandemic . The hopeful summer lull may bring another outbreak come September . But these outbreaks will be smaller and more manageable. I don’t think there will be an acceptable death level as a trade off for the economic recovery. That’s not something anyone would countenance as the random nature of infection means it could be anyone that gets infected . Smaller outbreaks will be more manageable anyway for our health service .
@Karllye kripton: Johnson got his test and got his ICU bed.
Meanwhile the NHS is managed to deny entry into hospital for the sick. Residents of care homes are bullied and blackmailed into signing Do Not Resuscitate permissions. Johnson, Cumnings and the rich think:
“Some Humans Ain’t Human”
https://youtu.be/uIWotODqidE
The ruling class and the very prosperous top 10%, who keep this system running, have got a hold of the wrong end of the stick with Prine’s song
@sue: We don’t know if it mutates from year to year like the flu or common cold yet. If it does, then catching it once won’t stop you getting it again. Hopefully it doesn’t because then we will have a standby army of people who are already immune and can work in essential services.
He’s lucky he’s out of the woods now . I just wish he would follow suit like these countries, denmark, Austria and the Czech Republic who made it compulsory to wear face masks. These countries slowed the spread AND now easing the lock down from next week and reopening schools after Easter.
@C_O’S: see how they get on in the weeks after opening before we praise them too much
@C_O’S: the masks flattened the spread in these countries in the first place. I lost 2 relations in their 90′s in London this week, went over there to build the city up after WW2 and ended up with covid 19. If more rules like we saw above they might have been saved.
@C_O’S: condolences
@Brian Dunne: I recently read an article stating masks would drastically help reduce the spread. There are many people that are asymptomatic who are out in public. If 80% of the population was wearing a mask, the spread of the virus could reduced dramatically. I have started wearing a mask going shopping out of respect for the cashiers and the staff. Wear a mask and you protect those around you. In protect you, you protect me.
@sue: I don’t think it would drastically reduce the spread . The social distancing is the biggest factor is slowing the spread . If you are wearing a mask then don’t touch the front of it taking it off . Take it off from behind. If it’s not a cloth mask dispose of it after one wear . These masks are usually pretty useless after about 30 minutes because of our breath. Cloth masks need to be washed at 60 degrees after every wear and some of the virologists say to use a coffee filter inside a cloth mask. The problem is most people don’t know how to wear masks or remove them safely and can get infected from taking off the masks .
Masks can stop people from touching their faces though which is helpful .
@C_O’S: they are still in very serious trouble
@sue: Thats actually not true or necessary. Masks are important for close contact with confirmed cases, which is why they are vital for healthcare staff. However, when practising social distancing and of you’re not coughing or sneezing on people and if people are ding the same to you, then they are pointless. All they will do, is make it difficult to breathe and actually make you touch your face more if they’re sweaty or unconmfortable,
He will now be made out to be a national hero and the mistakes he made will be sidelined. The clowns who voted for him will still champion him even when their supermarkets go short on produce because they have no one to pick mushrooms thanks to their points system on immigration.
@John Caplis: so your wonderful insights into British politics tells you everyone who voted for Johnson is a clown. What about all the traditional ‘red wall’ of Labour seats in the North who went Tory? Maybe walk into a pub in one of those cities and tell anyone who voted Tory they’re a clown and see what reaction you’d get.
@Valthebear: Clowns don’t like being told they are clowns. Voting in Tories was never going to be good for ordinary people. With CV19, the outcome is a lot worse. The first past the post system is a major culprit, too.
@Tanks a Minion: care to actually debate instead of engaging in verbal abuse? Also when you’re finished being juvenile, check out the most recent British opinion poll.
Right so, lets spend some money , hire a billboard van and have a love-in for Boris.
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” Martin Luther King Jnr.
Great that PM is on road to recovery. But is he back to wreak more havoc on hard won social protections implemented in UK over past 75 years or so, or has he just experienced his Damascus moment, now ready to take his job more seriously, bring gravitas to proceedings, be less of a sycophant to the rich, powerful top 5% of society, and reach out a lifting hand to all in Society.
Given that it saved his bacon in getting covid19 done from his system, NHS should be fairly save now from ever being even partially privatized. Shouldn’t it!
Early phase of recovery. Some go back down after a respite so he’s not out of the woods yet but I hope he’ll recover with lessons learned.
Delighted to hear he is on the mend.. hopefully he can get back to work soon and get Brexit over the line.
That van is a slap in the face to the NHS staff who’ve suffered under the Tories. By all means be happy that Boris is recovering but he’s not getting a round of applause when his government dropped the ball so badly and allowed the health system to get bogged down under so many cases.
Who are they borrowing money from since they dont have the EU to fall back on?
@John Keane: they have their own treasury, so they can simply print what they need. We don’t have that option in Ireland.
@John Murray: We do have that option. There may be serious repercussion for us with regard to our future ability to remain part of the Euro if we had gone on a solo run to do it.
But now that the EU has effectively agreed to do it, we don’t have to. That’s basically what the €500 billion EU package is, printing new money.
@Seanboy: so you wish he was dead? What a disgusting comment.
Now will he answer his crime of herd immunity!
Yipididee
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