Prime Minister Boris Johnson has paid tribute to the medics of the National Health Service (NHS) who “saved my life, no question” after he was admitted to intensive care with severe coronavirus.

Mr Johnson was released from the general ward of St Thomas’ Hospital in London on Easter Sunday. While planning on convalescing at the prime minister’s country retreat of Chequers, the prime minister delivered a prerecorded message from Downing Street, in which he gave an indication of how serious his condition had been when he was admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) on Monday, April 6th.

“I have today left hospital after a week in which the NHS has saved my life, no question,” Mr Johnson said, and continued to thank the nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professionals by name that watched over him for the three nights he spent in ICU.

Prime Minister Johnson praised two nurses in particular — Jenny from New Zealand and Luis from Portugal — “who stood by my bedside for 48 hours when things could have gone either way”.

The revelation that the prime minister was in such a precarious condition was hinted at in recent days, with reports that aides and Cabinet ministers were moved to prayer over their grave concern. One source told the Daily Mail: “It was one of those nights where all there really was was prayer.”

Mr Johnson continued: “The reason that my body, in the end, did start to get enough oxygen was because for every second of the night they were watching and they were thinking and they were caring and making the interventions I needed.

“So that is how I also know that across this country, 24 hours a day, for every second of every hour there are hundreds of thousands of NHS staff who are acting with the same care and thought and precision as Jenny and Luis.

“That is why we will defeat this coronavirus and defeat it together. We will win because our NHS is the beating heart of this country. It is the best of this country, it is unconquerable, It is powered by love.”

Read Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s speech in full:

“I have today left hospital after a week in which the NHS has saved my life, no question.

“It’s hard to find words to express my debt, but before I come to that I want to thank everyone in the entire UK for the effort and the sacrifice you have made and are making.

“When the sun is out and the kids are at home, when the whole natural world seems at its loveliest and the outdoors is so inviting, I can only imagine how tough it has been to follow the rules on social distancing.

“I thank you because so many millions and millions of people across this country have been doing the right thing. Millions going through the hardship of self-isolation, faithfully, patiently, and with thought and care for others as well as for themselves.

“I want you to know that this Easter Sunday I do believe that your efforts are worth it, and daily proving their worth. Because we mourn every day those who are taken from us in such numbers and thought the struggle is by no means over, we are now making progress in this incredible national battle against coronavirus.

“A fight we never picked against an enemy we still don’t entirely understand.

“We’re making progress in this national battle because the British public formed a human shield around this country’s greatest national asset: our National Health Service.

“We understood and we decided that if together we could keep our NHS safe, if we could stop our NHS from being overwhelmed, then we could not be beaten and this country could rise together to overcome this challenge as we have overcome so many challenges in the past.

“In the last seven days, I have of course seen the pressure that the NHS is under. I have seen the personal courage, not just of the doctors and nurses, but of everyone: the cleaners, the cooks, the healthcare workers of every description, physio, radiographs, pharmacists — who have kept coming to work, kept putting themselves in harm’s way, kept risking this deadly virus.

“It is thanks to that courage, that devotion, that duty and that love that our NHS has been unbeatable.

“I want to pay my own thanks to the utterly brilliant doctors, leaders in their fields, men and women — but several of them for some reason called ‘Nick’ — who took some crucial decisions a few days ago for which I will be grateful for the rest of my life.

“I want to thank the many nurses, men and women, whose care has been so astonishing. I’m going to forget some names but please forgive me. I want to thank Po Ling and Shannon and Emily and Angel and Connie and Becky and Rachael and Nicky and Ann. And I hope that they won’t mind if I mention in particular two nurses who stood by my bedside for 48 hours when things could have gone either way.

“They are Jenny from New Zealand — from Invercargill on the South Island, to be exact — and Luis from Portugal  – near Porto.

“And the reason that my body, in the end, did start to get enough oxygen was because for every second of the night they were watching and they were thinking and they were caring and making the interventions I needed.

“So that is how I also know that across this country, 24 hours a day, for every second of every hour there are hundreds of thousands of NHS staff who are acting with the same care and thought and precision as Jenny and Luis.

“That is why we will defeat this coronavirus and defeat it together. We will win because our NHS is the beating heart of this country. It is the best of this country, it is unconquerable, It is powered by love. So thank you from me, from all of us, to the NHS, and let’s remember to follow the rules on social distancing. Stay at home, protect our NHS, save lives.

“Thank you, and Happy Easter.”