BORIS Johnson spent a second night in intensive care, as good wishes piled from around the world.
The Prime Minister was admitted to hospital on Monday following a worsening of his coronavirus symptoms.
Downing Street said he was in a stable condition, and not currently on a ventilator.
Around two-thirds of patients in intensive care with coronavirus are sedated and put on a ventilator within 24 hours of arriving.
Only two hours before his move to intensive care, Number 10 was insisting Johnson was still spearheading the Government’s coronavirus response.
A spokesman rejected claims the Tory leader had pneumonia.
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They would also not confirm whether the Prime Minister was still communicating with officials or ministers, or even if he was in contact with family.
Speaking at the UK Government’s daily coronavirus briefing last night, Dominic Raab described the Tory leader as a “fighter”.
The Foreign Secretary is currently deputising for Johnson and is, effectively, caretaker Prime Minister.
Raab said: “He is not just the Prime Minister. For all of us in Cabinet, he is not just our boss.
“He is also a colleague and he is also our friend. So all our thoughts and prayers are with the Prime Minister at this time, with Carrie [Symonds] and his whole family.
“And I’m confident he will pull through, because if there is one thing that I know about this Prime
Minister, he is a fighter and he will be back leading us through this crisis in short order.”
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Raab added: “He’s receiving the very best care from the excellent medical team at St Thomas’s Hospital. He remained stable overnight.
“He’s receiving standard oxygen treatment and breathing without any assistance, he’s not required any mechanical ventilation or non-invasive respiratory support.
“He remains in good spirits and in keeping with usual clinical practice, his progress continues to be monitored closely in critical care.”
Raab is standing in for the Prime Minister “whenever necessary”, including leading the daily meetings of the coronavirus “war cabinet”.
He said he had “total confidence” in the arrangements the Prime Minister had put in place to allow the Foreign Secretary to deputise for him.
The Cabinet has “very clear instructions” from the Prime Minister whilst he remains in hospital, Raab added.
“Well first of all, decision making by Government is made by collective Cabinet responsibilities, so that is the same as before.
“But we’ve got very clear directions, very clear instructions from the Prime Minister, and we’re focused with total unity and total resolve on implementing them so that when he’s back, I hope in very short order, we will have made the progress that he would expect and that the country would expect.”
The Foreign Secretary hinted that the lockdown – which is due to be reviewed on Monday – could be extended.
When Raab was asked about the prospect of the restrictions being eased, he said: “We will take any decision when the time is right, based on the facts and the scientific and medical advice.
“Our number one and overriding focus right now is on conveying the key message, which is that everyone needs to keep adhering to this guidance.
“There is a long Easter bank holiday weekend coming up, warm weather, and we understand people are making big sacrifices to follow this guidance. It is helping, it is contributing to our ability to tackle the coronavirus.
“The worst thing now would be to take our foot off the pedal, to ease up on that and risk losing the gains that have been made.”
Nicola Sturgeon paid tribute to the Prime Minister at her daily press briefing.
She said the whole of Scotland was wishing him well.
She said: “On behalf of all of Scotland, I want to send every good wish to him – to his fiancee and to his whole family. We are all willing you on Boris. Get well soon.”
Across the UK, the number of coronavirus hospital deaths has reached 6159 – an increase of 786.
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