Worthy Christian News > World News > U.S. And Britain Bracing For Deadly Week

U.S. And Britain Bracing For Deadly Week

By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – The United States and Britain braced Monday for what officials viewed as one of their darkest weeks in post-war memory as the social and financial toll of the coronavirus pandemic mounted and the British prime minister was in the hospital with the virus. Monday’s glooming scenario came as Italy, Spain, and France saw signs that they were flattening the pandemic curve, despite many people still dying there.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has become the first known head of government to be hospitalized with the coronavirus COVID 19. The news overshadowed Sunday’s rare television address of Queen Elizabeth who tried to reassure a nation dealing with what the government views as its biggest health challenge since World War Two.

Johnson’s office said his move to the hospital was a “precautionary step” after persistent symptoms. The 55-year-old Conservative already announced Friday on social media that he did was still suffering, some ten days after he tested positive for COVID-19. “Although I’m feeling better and I’ve done my seven days of isolation, alas, I still have one of the minor symptoms. I still have a temperature,” Johnson said, speaking from his London apartment in Downing Street.

“So, in accordance with government advice, I must continue my isolation until that symptom itself goes. But we’re working clearly the whole time on our program to defeat the virus,” Johnson added.

Prime Minister Johnson, who tested positive for the virus ten days ago, remained in charge of the government and was awaiting test results Monday. U.S. President Donald Trump said America was praying for the British leader. “I want to express our nation’s well wishes to Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he wages his own personal fight with the virus,” Trump said.

“All Americans are praying for him,” the American president told reporters. “He’s a friend of mine, he’s a great gentleman and a great leader, and as you know he went to the hospital today … I’m sure he is going to be fine, he’s a strong man, a strong person.”

The president spoke on a day that U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams offered a stark warning about the expected wave of deaths. More than 9,600 people have died of the virus in the United States, and it leads the world in confirmed infections at more than 337,000.

There was some hope for hard-hit European areas. Authorities suggest that deaths and new coronavirus infections appeared to be slowing in Spain, Italy, and France. But hundreds of people still die of COVID-19 every day in these nations. And leaders cautioned that any gains could easily be reversed if people did not continue to adhere to strict social distancing measures and national lockdowns.