Boris Johnson “must rest up” after he was moved from intensive care with coronavirus, his father has said.
“He almost took one for the team and we’ve got to make sure we play properly now,” Stanley Johnson told the BBC.
Downing Street said the PM waved his thanks to staff at St Thomas’ Hospital in London as he was moved on Thursday.
Meanwhile, scientific adviser Prof Neil Ferguson, who was asked about coming out of lockdown, said it would likely “be targeted by age, by geography”.
A spokesman for No 10 said the prime minister “continues to be in very good spirits”, and emphasised Mr Johnson was at an “early stage” of his recovery from coronavirus.
Earlier, Stanley Johnson spoke of his “relief” that his son had begun his recovery, adding that he thought his illness had “got the whole country to realise this is a serious event”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that there would have to be a “period of adjustment” before the PM returned to work in Downing Street.
Prof Ferguson, of Imperial College London, told Today that work to end the coronavirus lockdown in the UK was the “number one topic and priority” both in the scientific community and in government. “Every waking minute, as it were,” he said.
Speaking about what measures might be needed to end the lockdown, Prof Ferguson said the UK would have to introduce larger levels of testing at community level “to isolate cases more effectively”.
However, he suggested the lockdown would have to remain in place for “several more weeks”.
The government has launched a campaign urging people to stay at home over the Easter Bank Holiday.
It comes as Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick defended his travel moves amid reports he flouted lockdown rules.
The MP for Newark in Nottinghamshire is said to have travelled from London to a second home in Herefordshire, and separately visited his parents in neighbouring Shropshire, according to the Daily Mail and the Guardian.
The government has advised against travel to second homes – and urged people to distance themselves from elderly relatives.
Mr Jenrick said he had been in London on ministerial duties and left for what he said was a family home in Herefordshire to join his wife and children.
He added that he visited his parents to deliver essentials, including medicines – allowed by the rules.
Downing Street has defended Mr Jenrick, saying it was “not an unnecessary journey” for cabinet ministers commuting to and from London to rejoin their family.
“We’re confident that he complied with the social distancing rules,” a spokesman said.
Source:Â bbc.com