Shortly after Queen Elizabeth delivered a stirring television address on the ‘common global endeavour’ against the coronavirus, Downing Street announced that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been admitted to hospital.
Media reports said Johnson, who has had Covid-19 for 10 days, continued to have persistent symptoms, including a high temperature. Downing Street said that, for purely precautionary reasons, he had gone to hospital for tests. He was expected to remain in hospital overnight.
The BBC said it was ‘considered sensible for doctors to see Mr Johnson in person, given he has ongoing symptoms. He remains in charge of the UK government, and is in contact with ministerial colleagues and officials’.
Earlier in the evening, Queen Elizabeth said in a widely praised address on television that the challenge of fighting the coronavirus outbreak was different from other difficulties faced before because there was a common goal.
‘This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavour, using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal,’ she said. The queen added: ‘We will succeed – and that success will belong to every one of us.’
In response, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said in a tweet: ‘We all echo The Queen’s praise for our wonderful health, emergency, retail and logistics workers. As we were reminded by Her Majesty’s moving words, we will get through this together by staying at home, protecting the vulnerable and putting others’ needs first.’
In South Africa, positive cases rose to 1 655, and deaths to 11. So far, 56 873 South Africans have been tested. There have been 45 recoveries.
Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Thabang Makwetla was reported by News24 as saying that reported incidents of unlawful acts by members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) since its deployment in support of the police to deal with Covid-19 were regrettable and ‘have easily detracted the observer from the overwhelmingly vital role played by the military in the fight against the coronavirus and the enormous value of this deployment to the country’.
The Solidarity Fund has seen over R2 billion in donation pledges.
In other virus-related news
- More than 1.2 million cases, and 65 272 deaths, have been reported in 190 countries and territories around the world since the virus first emerged in China in December, according to AFP;
- Italy has the highest official death toll with 15 362 fatalities. Spain follows with 12 418, the United States is on 8 503, France 7 560 and Britain 4 313. Spain saw its third consecutive daily decline in deaths from the virus, recording another 674 fatalities on Sunday. A day earlier, Italy cheered after seeing its number of intensive care cases drop for the first time – from 4 068 on Friday to 3 994;
- In the United States, President Donald Trump warned Americans to brace for a ‘very horrendous’ number of coronavirus deaths in coming days; and
- The Asian Development Bank warned that the pandemic could cost the global economy $4.1 trillion, equivalent to 4.8 percent of worldwide output.