|
 He later said he had fought for his life as the state prepared for
the unthinkable: the possible death in office of a prime minister.
Johnson's experience of trying to stay in charge while struggling
with the disease may offer clues about the potential dangers ahead
for U.S. President Donald Trump, now that he has tested positive.
After being accused of initially failing to appreciate the gravity
of coronavirus crisis for Britain, Johnson, then 55, felt mild
symptoms on March 26 while answering questions in the House of
Commons chamber.
A few hours later, he received a positive test result, and the next
day he made a video statement in which he said he was
self-isolating, but would continue to work and lead Britain's
coronavirus response.
But during the next nine days, as he worked in isolation in an
apartment above his official Downing Street residence and office,
his condition deteriorated, with persistent symptoms including a
high temperature.
Later, he said he had been in denial and continued to work despite
feeling groggy and "pretty rough", until doctors told him firmly to
go to hospital.
Being a national leader has offered little protection against the
new coronavirus.
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro spent weeks in quarantine after
testing positive in July 7, and said he had taken antibiotics for an
infection that left him feeling weak.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez needed hospital treatment,
and former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi developed double
pneumonia and spent 10 days in hospital, being treated with the
antiviral drug Remdesivir.
The 84-year-old was allowed home on Sept. 14 saying he had survived
"the most dangerous challenge" of his life, and has made no public
appearances since.
"THE BAD MOMENT"
Johnson's sudden deterioration after continuing to work may hold a
warning for the 74-year-old Trump, now in full campaigning mode for
the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 3.
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Johnson was admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital in the evening of April 5. The next
day he was moved to intensive care, where he received oxygen support but was not
put on a ventilator.
"The bad moment came when it was 50-50 whether they were going to have to put a
tube down my windpipe," Johnson said later.
"The doctors had all sorts of arrangements for what to do if things went badly
wrong ... The bloody indicators kept going in the wrong direction."
He later said he owed those doctors his life.
While Johnson was ill, his duties were assumed by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
"They had a strategy to deal with a 'death of Stalin'-type scenario," Johnson
later said. "It was a tough old moment, I won’t deny it."
Johnson left hospital on April 12, but continued his recuperation at his
official country residence northwest of London, and did not return to work until
April 27 - a month after announcing that he had tested positive.
When Johnson's fiancée Carrie Symonds gave birth to their son two days later, he
was given a middle name of Nicholas partly in tribute to two of the intensive
care doctors who had treated the prime minister.
Since then, Johnson has repeatedly dismissed concerns about his recovery, and
said the virus has convinced him to slim down from his previous, portly 17st 6lb
(244 lb, 112 kg).
As recently as Tuesday, he told a reporter: "I'm fitter than I was before, it
may irritate you to know ... I'm fit as a butcher's dog, thanks basically to
losing weight."
(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge, Elizabeth Piper and Michael Holden in London and
Crispian Balmer in Rome; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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