4 2GM Wednesday April 8 2020 | the times
News
Boris Johnson will win his battle against
coronavirus because he is a “fighter”,
Dominic Raab said yesterday amid
growing hope that the prime minister
will make a full recovery.
The foreign secretary said he was
“confident” that Mr Johnson would
recover as the prime minister spent a
second night in intensive care at St
Thomas’ Hospital in south London.
Downing Street said the prime min-
ister was stable and breathing without
the need for a ventilator. The Times was
also told that Mr Johnson’s temperature
had fallen.
Mr Raab told a press conference in
No 10 yesterday: “I’m confident he will
pull through because if there is one
thing I know about this prime minister,
he is a fighter and he will be back lead-
ing us through this crisis in short order.
“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 and his whole
family.”
Carrie Symonds, 32, Mr Johnson’s
pregnant fiancée, is self-isolating with
coronavirus symptoms away from
Downing Street.
Jon Bennett, the president of the
British Thoracic Society, said it was
“heartening” that Mr Johnson was
receiving “standard oxygen treatment”
and did not need a ventilator or pres-
surised oxygen.
Mr Raab added: “He’s receiving the
very best care from the excellent medi-
cal team at St Thomas’ Hospital.
“He remained stable overnight. He’s
receiving standard oxygen treatment
and breathing without any assistance,
he’s not required any mechanical venti-
lation 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.”
Mr Johnson’s treatment is being led
by Richard Leach, clinical director for
pulmonary and critical care medicine
at St Thomas’.
The prime minister is thought to
have been fairly fit and well. He is a reg-
ular tennis player and at No 10 he fol-
lows online video workouts that mix
yoga, Pilates and aerobics. He gave up
jogging after problems with his knees
meant that he could no longer run far-
ther than a couple of miles. As mayor of
London he was known as a keen cyclist.
He has struggled with his weight,
however. After returning to the back
benches he wrote in December 2018
that he weighed 16st 7lb. At 5ft 9in that
would have put him in the obese
category. He has since lost weight.
Mr Johnson’s father also said his sonwas “a fighter”. Stanley Johnson, 79,
who has himself gone into self-isola-
tion, said he was having to follow his
son’s progress by watching the news. “I
am not being told how Boris is getting
on. But he is optimistic, determined
and resilient,” Mr Johnson told Mail
Online.
“I hope that Boris will have time to
recuperate at Chequers, where I under-
stand they have got a very good farm of
2,000 acres. He will be at home there,
and in his element.”
It is unclear when Ms Symonds last
saw Mr Johnson. No 10 declined to
comment last night on whether she had
visited him in hospital. She is due to give
birth in early summer.
In an interview with ITV News,
David Cameron described Mr Johnson
as “very tough, very resilient, very fit
person”. The former prime minister
added: “I know that from facing him on
the tennis court and I’m sure he’ll come
through this.
“He’s got a tremendous zest for life,
and getting things done, and for leading
and for taking decisions. I know he’ll
want to get well and get back in charge
again, and that’s what we all want for
him. And we’re hoping and praying that
that’s the case and that’s the case very
soon.”
A Downing Street spokesman said:
“The prime minister’s condition is sta-
ble and he remains in intensive care for
close monitoring. He is in good spirits.”President Trump’s offer to provide an
experimental coronavirus treatment
for Boris Johnson has been politely de-
clined by Downing Street.
Mr Trump said on Monday that he
had asked therapeutics manufacturers
with which the US government was
dealing to “contact London immedi-
ately”. He added: “We’ve contacted all
of Boris’s doctors and we’ll see what
takes place — they are ready to go.”
Last night Mr Trump said at the start
of his daily coronavirus briefing: “We
pray for prime minister Boris Johnson.
He’s become a great friend of ours. He
loves this country, he loves his country,
but he loves the USA. So he’s been very
good to us. Whenever we had difficulty
he was with us, and we appreciate it. So
we pray for prime minister Boris John-
son. He’s going through a lot.”
He added: “The UK called today and
they wanted to know would it be poss-
ible to get 200 [ventilators]. They
Thanks but no thanks, Mr Trump
wanted 200, they wanted them desper-
ately.” On Monday the president had
held a conference about therapeutic
drugs with the heads of the US pharma-
ceutical companies Amgen, Genen-
tech, Gilead and Regeneron. All are
conducting clinical trials of potential
treatments.
The president said that the “major”
and “genius” therapeutic companies,
which “speak a language most people
don’t even understand”, had “arrived in
London already” after he spoke to
them, although he later appeared to
suggest that the help would be coming
from the companies’ London offices.
However, yesterday a Downing
Street spokesman said: “We’re confi-
dent the prime minister is receiving the
best possible care from the National
Health Service. Any treatment he re-
ceives is a matter for his doctors.”
Stephen Evans, professor of phar-
macoepidemiology at the London
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medi-
cine, said: “Amgen has not yet produced
a product that can be trialled but has
obtained blood to look for possible anti-body candidates. This is very experi-
mental.” Genentech and Regeneron, he
said, were “using existing monoclonal
antibody drugs that are licensed for use
in rheumatoid arthritis and these are
being trialled in the US and in Europe”.
Gilead, a company with a strong
presence in Cambridge, is testing a drug
called remdesivir. Professor Evans said
it was “specifically antiviral but is not
yet licensed and was used in trials in
ebola.”
A preliminary study from China
found that ten severely ill Covid-
patients had appeared to improve after
being given antibodies drawn from the
blood of survivors. The researchers said
the findings, published in Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences,
suggested that convalescent plasma
therapy could be a safe approach.
However, Sir Munir Pirmohamed,
president of the British Pharmacologi-
cal Society, said: “This was not a
randomised trial and all patients also
received other treatments, including
antivirals such as remdesivir.” He
added that there were safety concerns.Kat Lay Health Correspondent
Henry Zeffman
Washington Correspondent
Armed police were on patrol outside
St Thomas’ Hospital in London
yesterday; at Downing Street a gift
from wellwishers for Boris JohnsonNews Coronavirus
PM will soon be back to lead us
Steven Swinford Deputy Political Editor
A cyclist sought prayers for the prime minister in central London yesterday as
Quentin Letts
Tennis tributes reveal
how Boris lives to serve
O
ur prime minister, our
boss, but also our friend:
that was Dominic
Raab’s description of
Boris Johnson. Mr
Raab, deputising for the stricken
PM, was chairing the daily
Downing Street news update and he
went a touch husky at the words
“our friend”. It was one of those
moments that show the value ofemotional restraint. Raab has never
been quite the cold tench some
allege but he is not one of life’s
gushers. If even he was missing the
loveable old horse, well, it must be
something.
Mr Johnson’s political stock, like
his temperature, can seldom have
been higher. Were it not for the
worry he is giving us, you could say
coronavirus has done him wonders.
Opponents, rivals, world leaders
and international bogeymen — a
telegram from the Kremlin, signed
“respectfully yours” by VV Putin —
expressed concern for our flattened
PM. The way people spoke of his
prowess on a tennis court, itPolitical Sketch