Coronavirus: How close British Prime Minister Boris Johnson came to dying

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has revealed how serious his battle with coronavirus was, saying “things could have gone either way”.

Boris Johnson’s pregnant fiancée Carrie Symonds has spoken of the “very dark” moments during the British Prime Minister’s seven-day hospital fight with coronavirus.

After Mr Johnson was discharged from hospital yesterday, the pair had an emotional reunion before he packed a bag and swiftly departed for his country retreat Chequers in Buckinghamshire

Ms Symonds - who is seven months pregnant with their first child – tweeted: “The staff at St Thomas’ Hospital have been incredible.

“I will never, ever be able to repay you and I will never stop thanking you.

“There were times last week that were very dark indeed.

“My heart goes out to all those in similar situations, worried sick about their loved ones.

“Thank you also to everyone who sent such kind messages of support. Today I’m feeling incredibly lucky.”

Dressed in a suit, and looking and sounding relatively assured, Mr Johnson said in a video posted on Twitter after his discharge from hospital that it was “hard to find the words” to express his debt of gratitude to the National Health Service HS for saving his life “no question.”

He listed several of the frontline staff members who cared for him during his week-long stay at hospital but singled out two nurses who stood by his bedside for 48 hours “when things could have gone either way”.

The Prime Minister said the nurses he identified as Jenny from Invercargill on New Zealand’s South Island and Luis from Portugal, near Porto, were the reason that “in the end, my body did start to get enough oxygen”.

“Because for every second of the night they were watching and they were thinking and they were caring and making the interventions I needed,” he said. “So that is how I also know that across this country, 24 hours a day, for every second of every hour, there are hundreds of thousands of NHS staff who are acting with the same care and thought and precision as Jenny and Luis.”

Heaping praise on the ICU unit’s doctors – “several of them for some reason called Nick” - who presided over him for three tense days and nights, Mr Johnson said he “will be grateful for the rest of my life” for their decisions.

In a touching declaration, the PM added: “That is why we will defeat this coronavirus and defeat it together.

“We will win because our NHS is the beating heart of this country. It is the best of this country.

“It is unconquerable. It is powered by love.”

On the advice of his medical team, Mr Johnson won’t be returning to work immediately, his office said in statement.

It’s unclear what involvement Mr Johnson will have in this week’s anticipated extension to the nationwide lockdown the prime minister announced on March 23 in response to the worldwide virus pandemic.

Mr Johnson, 55, was the first world leader confirmed to have the virus. His COVID-19 symptoms, including a cough and a fever, at first were described as mild, and he worked from home during the first few days of self-isolation.

But he was admitted to St. Thomas’ on April 5 after his condition worsened and transferred the following day to the intensive care unit, where he received oxygen but was not put onto a ventilator. Mr Johnson spent three nights in the ICU before he was moved back to a regular hospital ward on Thursday.

The Government confirmed on Sunday that the UK became the fourth European country after Italy, Spain and France to reach the grim milestone of 10,000 virus- related deaths. It said 737 more people who tested positive for the coronavirus had died, taking the total recorded in the U.K. to 10,612.

The figure reported on Sunday represented a second straight daily decline in number of deaths, although the lower figures may be due to delays related with the Easter weekend.

Parts of this article originally appeared on The Sun and were reproduced with permission

- With AP