His admission to hospital came ten days after he tested positive.

LONDON —
The U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was hospitalized with “persistent symptoms” of coronavirus on Sunday night as a “precautionary step,” Downing Street said.

Johnson was admitted to hospital to undergo tests on the advice of his doctor ten days after he revealed he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The prime minister has a temperature, and no update was given on his condition on Monday.

“On the advice of his doctor, the Prime Minister has tonight been admitted to hospital for tests,” a Downing Street spokesperson said. “This is a precautionary step, as the Prime Minister continues to have persistent symptoms of coronavirus ten days after testing positive for the virus.”

 
“The Prime Minister thanks NHS [National Health Service] staff for all of their incredible hard work and urges the public to continue to follow the Government’s advice to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives,” they added.

The prime minister will continue to lead the government, although Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, will temporarily stand in as leader if Johnson is unable to work.

President Trump joined a chorus of voices wishing the prime minister a quick recovery from the illness.

“But before I begin, I want to express our nation’s well wishes to Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he wages his own personal fight with the virus,” he said last night. “All Americans are praying for him. He’s a friend of mine. He’s a great gentleman and a great leader, and he’s as you know, he was brought to the hospital today, but I’m — I’m hopeful and sure that he’s going to be fine.”

The prime minister was last seen in public at the door of Number 10 Downing Street on Thursday night, as he turned out to clap for National Health Service workers along with much of the country.

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Johnson’s partner, Carrie Symonds, who is pregnant with their child, also announced that she had been bed-ridden over the past week with coronavirus symptoms over the weekend.

“I’ve spent the past week in bed with the main symptoms of Coronavirus,” she posted on Twitter. “I haven’t needed to be tested and, after seven days of rest, I feel stronger and I’m on the mend.”

“Being pregnant with Covid-19 is obviously wrong,” she added, as she encouraged other pregnant women to follow the latest health guidance on coronavirus in pregnant women.

As of Sunday morning, 47,806 people in the U.K. had tested positive for coronavirus, with 4,934 deaths, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.

The news of the prime minister’s hospitalization came as the Queen addressed the nation in a highly poignant televised address. Praising the response of the country’s health and care workers, she said: “We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.”