Boris Johnson reveals 'contingency plans' were made when he was in hospital

3 May 2020, 08:06

Boris Johnson has revealed "contingency plans" were made when he was seriously ill in intensive care with coronavirus.

In an interview with the Sun on Sunday, the Prime Minister says he was given "litres and litres of oxygen" in order to keep him alive.

"The doctors had all sorts of arrangements for what to do if things went badly wrong," he revealed.

He says his week in London's St Thomas' Hospital has left him with the drive to both stop others suffering and to get the UK "back on its feet".

"Am I driven by a desire to stop other people suffering? Yes, I absolutely am.

"But I am also driven by an overwhelming desire to get our country as a whole back on its feet, healthy again, going forward in a way that we can and I'm very confident we'll get there," he told the Sun on Sunday.

In his newspaper interview, the prime minister describes being wired up to monitors and finding the "indicators kept going in the wrong direction".

"It was a tough old moment, I won't deny it," he said.

"I asked myself - how am I going to get out of this?"

It comes after the announcement that Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds named their baby boy Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson.

Taking to Instagram to make the announcement, Ms Symonds said Nicholas was chosen after the doctors who saved Mr Johnson's life during his battle with coronavirus - Dr Nick Hart and Dr Nick Price.

His first name, Wilfred, was picked in tribute to Mr Johnson's grandfather, and Lawrie was picked in tribute to Ms Symond's grandfather.

The boy was born on Wednesday, just weeks after Mr Johnson's discharge from intensive care.

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The Prime Minister was diagnosed with coronavirus on March 26 and was admitted to hospital 10 days after being diagnosed.

Just a day later,, he was moved to intensive care.

"It was hard to believe that in just a few days my health had deteriorated to this extent," the prime minister admitted.

Mr Johnson says he felt "lucky", given so many others were still suffering and thanked the "wonderful nursing" he received.

He also admitted that he was initially in denial about his condition.

"I said I really didn't want to go into hospital," he explained.

"It didn't seem to me to be a good move but they were pretty adamant. Looking back, they were right to force me to go. I was just incredibly frustrated."

Mr Johnson returned to work on Monday and was immediately faced with preparing for the coronavirus lockdown review due to be announced by Thursday 7 May.

He is expected to lay out "phase two" of the UK plan to tackle the virus now the "peak of infections has passed."

So far more than 28,000 people have died from coronavirus in the UK.