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Opinion
Therese Raphael

Britain's Government Wasn’t Built for a Coronavirus Crisis

The PM's hospitalization comes as the U.K. faces serious questions about managing Covid-19, PPE for doctors and the economic price of lockdowns.

The new center of power.

The new center of power.

Photographer: TOLGA AKMEN/AFP
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After 10 days of persistent symptoms, Boris Johnson is the first leader of a major country to be hospitalized with Covid-19. There’s never a good time to be sick, but there could hardly be a worse moment for a prime minister who has become such a towering figure in his party and the U.K., and who has enjoyed strong ratings during the crisis. Even if Johnson’s absence is brief, it will only complicate a national response to the coronavirus that has prompted a long list of questions over its effectiveness.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick told BBC radio Monday morning that Johnson’s admission was “routine,” taken as a precautionary measure. Whether his true condition hadn’t been disclosed, or his health deteriorated in the ensuing hours, is not clear, but by Monday evening the prime minister had been placed in an intensive care unit. As doctors have been saying for weeks now, there’s no certainty with this virus.