Newspaper headlines: PM thanks NHS staff after virus battle and ICU drug shortage fears
Boris Johnson came “close to death” as he was treated for coronavirus, according to friends of the prime minister quoted in the Mail on Sunday. At one point, Mr Johnson’s condition was so serious that cabinet ministers and aides prayed for him, it adds. Meanwhile, the paper claims a world exclusive interview with the fiancee of Wikileaks’ co-founder Julian Assange, who tells the Mail she gave birth to their two sons while he was living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
“I can’t thank enough… I owe them my life” is the tribute paid by Boris Johnson to the NHS staff who treated him for coronavirus in intensive care. The Sunday Express quotes friends of the prime minister, 55, who say he is “euphoric” after starting his recovery on a ward at St Thomas’ hospital in London, while a senior government official says everyone breathed a “collective sigh of relief” when he was moved from intensive care.
The Daily Mirror reports that some hospitals are running out of three vital drugs needed to treat coronavirus patients, with one consultant calling the situation “extremely worrying.”
“Hospitals on brink of running out of gowns” is the headline of the Sunday’s Telegraph’s top story, which reports that some NHS trusts have been forced to fly in vital protective equipment from China amid fears of a “national shortage” of the long-sleeved garments, which are needed for medics treating coronavirus patients.
“NHS phone app holds key to lifting lockdown” is the headline of the Sunday Times’ main story, which reveals ministers have given the green light to the creation of a NHS app that would allow mobile phones to trace users who have been in contact with infected people, alerting them to get tested. Ministers hope the app could pave the way for them to start lifting some of the strictest social distancing measures from late next month, but Lord Evans, the former head of MI5, warned the technology – although key to combating the virus – was a “severe intrusion into personal privacy”.
The UK’s main opposition parties have united to demand Parliament is urgently recalled in “virtual” form amid the escalating coronavirus crisis, the Observer claims. MPs and peers are seeking to hold the government to account after the UK death toll neared 10,000.
“Are our kids’ lives not worth saving?” is the question asked by a mother who was asked to sign a do not resuscitate notice for her son, who is a cancer patient. The case, reported on the Sunday People’s front page, follows claims that the most vulnerable are being asked to sign the notices in case they contract coronavirus.
The Daily Star on Sunday reports the pop star Phil Collins has rushed to the aid of his friend, the former England and Tottenham striker Jimmy Greaves, who is being treated in hospital for an unspecified illness.
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