Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party, has been discharged from the hospital. The 55-year-old was first diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 27. After 10 days of worsening symptoms, he was admitted to St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. This past Monday he was transferred to the intensive care unit, where he received oxygen treatment. Doctors did not place him on a ventilator.
In a moving video address on Twitter, the Prime Minister profusely thanked the doctors and nurses who looked after him and exalted the nation’s National Health Service. He expressed deep gratitude to all NHS personnel, from the doctors and nurses, to the cleaners, the cooks, and the pharmacists.
In the address, Johnson offered special thanks to two nurses who attended to him for 48 hours during the darkest moments of his illness: Jenny from New Zealand and Luis from Portugal. He said that for that period of time “it could have gone either way,” and he only survived because “for every second of the night they were watching and they were thinking and they were caring and making the interventions I needed.”
… we will defeat this coronavirus and defeat it together. We will because the NHS is the beating heart of this country. It is the best of this country. It is unconquerable. It is powered by love.
Boris Johns, Prime Minister of the UK
Johnson will be recouperating at Chequers, the official country retreat of serving Prime Ministers. He may be out of action for as long as a month. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will run the country in Johnson’s absence.
Watch the Prime Minister’s entire speech below.