Boris Johnson ‘improving’ and ‘sitting up in intensive care bed’ with Covid-19

Boris Johnson’s condition is “improving” and he is now “sitting up in bed” after spending two nights in intensive care with coronavirus, the Chancellor has said.

Rishi Sunak said the Prime Minister has been “engaging positively” with the medics treating him in St Thomas’s Hospital in London on Wednesday.

But the boost came as the nation saw its record number of deaths in hospitals, with a rise of 938 taking the toll to at least 7,097, according to Department of Health figures.

Though significantly larger than the previous highest toll of 786, Deputy chief scientific adviser Professor Dame Angela McLean said new cases are not “accelerating out of control”.

Mr Sunak said Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is deputising for the PM, will chair a Cobra emergency committee on Thursday to discuss the lockdown measures with leaders of the devolved nations.

Earlier, Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said the lockdown will not end in Wales next week, ahead of the UK-wide review into the restrictions.