UPDATE: April 9,???? ?????? ?????? ???????? 2020, 2:37 p.m. EDT United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is hospitalized with the coronavirus, has been moved out of the ICU on Thursday. Downing Street said the PM had been moved back to the hospital ward, "where he will receive close monitoring during the early phase of his recovery."
Our original post published Monday when Johnson entered the ICU follows:
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to the intensive care unit of London's St. Thomas' Hospital after his coronavirus symptoms worsened on Monday.
“Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the Prime Minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital,” read a statement from Downing Street.
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Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will step in and perform Johnson's duties.
"Before [Johnson] went he asked Dominic Raab to deputise for him," tweeted the BBC's Lewis Goodall. "As far as coronavirus is concerned, Raab is the effective acting Prime Minister."
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Goodall added in a tweet at about 3:30 p.m. ET that the PM was conscious and had been moved to the ICU in the event that he required ventilation.
Johnson tested positive for COVID-19, the official name for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, on March 27. He was first admitted into the hospital on Sunday for what Downing Street described as "routine 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," a spokesperson said in a statement.