Boris Johnson to tackle obesity in fight against coronavirus after ‘believing his weight led to hospital visit’
BORIS Johnson has vowed to tackle obesity as part of the fight against coronavirus, after reports that he believes his weight landed him in intensive care with the disease.
The prime minister, previously a critic of the "nanny state", is said to now support a "more interventionist" approach to obesity, which is known to double a coronavirus patient's chances of being hospitalised.
Johnson last month spent three days in intensive care fighting off the virus after his symptoms failed to clear following a ten-day spell in self-isolation.
He is now convinced that his weight is the reason the virus, which for many people is symptomless, had such a dramatic affect on him, The Times reported.
The prime minister has often been photographed jogging or riding a bike through London, but still weighed 17.5 stone, while only 5'9" in height, when he entered hospital.
He has reportedly shed a stone since being discharged from hospital on April 12.
Various conditions linked to obesity, including diabetes and heart disease, are known to make patients more vulnerable to the virus.
New figures yesterday showed that one quarter of all coronavirus fatalities in hospitals in England have been of patients with diabetes.
Data from the Health Survey for England conducted in 2018 found 31 percent of all adults in the UK to be obese.
The prime minister, who has previously said he wants to see a review of “sin taxes” like 2018’s tax on sugary drinks, is said to have told advisers: “I’ve changed my mind on this.”
He is reported to have said during discussions, “it’s all right for you thinnies”, and to think the current focus on public health presents an opportunity to “get Britain on its bike”.
It was also reported this week that Johnson’s advice when asked how to beat off coronavirus was: “Don’t be a fatty in your fifties.”
It is currently expected that the UK will have to live with the many economic and health impacts of the coronavirus until a vaccine can be developed.
The Sun Says
IF Covid-19 cannot convince Britain to lose some weight nothing will.
Here is a disease which is much more likely to kill you if you are overweight or obese — as well as past middle-age.
It is no surprise to see the nanny state brigade leap on it as their latest excuse for higher taxes on sugary products. The fatal flaw is they don’t work, unless you count as a “success” cowed manufacturers destroying the taste of their products by removing some sugar.
When it comes to the actual objective, cutting obesity, they have failed both here and abroad. They merely raise the cost of living for all, fat or thin, while impacting the poorest hardest.
Obesity and diabetes can be reversed by radically cutting daily calories, exercising more and then changing your lifestyle for good to keep it off. That’s how Adele lost seven stone.
On Pages 20 and 21, and in The Sun next week, ex-Towie star Mark Wright shows how he transformed himself from chubby kid to superfit TV hunk.
He might even have some pointers for Boris Johnson, who blames his near-death Covid ordeal on his weight.
But we are happy to see the PM reject siren calls for new sugar taxes.
Instead his Government, more than ever, must sell weight loss as the life-enhancer and life-saver it is.
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The prime minister is facing increasing pressure over his government's handling of the crisis, with a lack of protective equipment or widespread testing being linked to the UK's high death rate.
At least 33,614 people are now known to have in the UK died from coronavirus, more than in any other country in Europe.
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