Boris Johnson has revealed “contingency plans” were made while he was seriously ill in hospital with coronavirus.
In an interview with the Sun on Sunday, he says he was given “litres and litres of oxygen” to keep him alive.
He says during a week in London’s St Thomas’ Hospital, with three nights in intensive care, he kept asking himself: “How am I going to get out of this?”
Earlier, his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, revealed they had named their baby boy Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson.
The names are a tribute to their grandfathers and two doctors who treated Mr Johnson while he was in hospital with coronavirus, Ms Symonds wrote in an Instagram post.
She posted a picture of herself with the baby, who was born on Wednesday.
The birth came just weeks after Mr Johnson’s discharge from intensive care.
In his newspaper interview, the prime minister describes being wired up to monitors and finding the “indicators kept going in the wrong direction”.
“It was a tough old moment, I won’t deny it,” he’s quoted as saying. “The doctors had all sorts of arrangements for what to do if things went badly wrong.”
Mr Johnson says he found it hard to believe his health could deteriorate so badly in a matter of days but puts his recovery from Covid-19 down to “wonderful, wonderful nursing”.
Mr Johnson has been back in charge of the government since last Sunday. But he was in Downing Street a matter of days before Ms Symonds gave birth.
When posting their newborn’s photograph, she said his second middle name, Nicholas, was a tribute to “Dr Nick Price and Dr Nick Hart – the two doctors that saved Boris’ life”.
This offered “an insight into just how serious things were for the prime minister” after contracting the virus, said BBC political correspondent Jonathan Blake.
Dr Nick Price and Prof Nick Hart offered their “warm congratulations” to the PM and Ms Symonds.
They said in a statement: “We are honoured and humbled to have been recognised in this way, and we give our thanks to the incredible team of professionals who we work with at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and who ensure every patient receives the best care.
“We wish the new family every health and happiness.”
With BBC report
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