British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was well enough to watch 11 hours of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy this week, but his father warned his coronavirus-stricken son is “not out of the woods” yet after a bout in hospital intensive care — and said his experience with COVID-19 has been a wake-up call for Brits.
“I do think about this whole event of Boris going into intensive care, and now … coming out, it has actually served an amazing purpose,” Stanley Johnson, 79, told BBC Radio following his son’s release from the ICU at St. Thomas hospital in London. “In a sense it’s got the whole country to realize this is a serious event. If it can hit the prime minister, for heaven’s sake, well it does come close to home.”
The elder Johnson said his son will practice caution when he returns to parliament.
“To use that American expression, he almost took one for the team. We have got to make sure we play the game properly now,” he said. “He has to take time. I cannot believe you can walk away from this and get straight back to Downing Street and pick up the reins without a period of readjustment.”
Johnson, 55, announced his COVID-19 diagnosis on March 27 and was admitted to St. Thomas hospital on Sunday with trouble breathing. Doctors transferred him to the ICU on Monday to be near a ventilator should he have needed one, according to officials.
Johson’s pregnant fiancee, Carrie Symonds, said she is also recovering from coronavirus symptoms.
Symonds reportedly sends Johnson daily love letters and scans of their unborn baby, according to the Sunday Times.
“It’s been a very, very worrying time for Carrie,” according to a UK Sun source. “She has been urging Boris to get well for their unborn child.”
Well-wishers have mailed thousands of cards to Johnson’s office, a source told the Sunday Times.
“There are boxes and boxes in his outer office,” the source said. “They are really lovely and come from people of all ages and all over the country. I think when he sees them he will be tremendously grateful for everyone’s kind wishes.”
By the end of the week, Johnson’s condition improved, and he was reportedly well enough to walk the hospital halls, do puzzles and watch movies, including the ’80s British comedy “Withnail and I” and the three “Lord of the Rings,” officials said, according to the Sunday Times.
Johnson’s father praised his son’s supporters for the “tremendous outpouring” of concern.
“I feel tremendously grateful obviously on behalf of the family, Boris’s family, my family, family members all over the place, and also, of course, amazingly thankful as well,” Stanley Johnson said.
Meanwhile, the death toll in Britain continues to climb. Friday saw the country’s steepest toll: 980, more fatalities than Italy, the hardest-hit European country, has seen in a single day.