Coronavirus: Debate continues over political impact of Boris Johnson's hospital stay

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is recovering from a coronavirus infection at his official country residence of Chequers, about 60km north of London, where he was joined by his fiancee Carrie Symonds, who is expecting their first child.

"On the advice of his medical team, the PM will not be immediately returning to work," a British government spokesman said.

Still, the political impact of Mr Johnson's hospitalisation for a life-threatening infection - which according to the Prime Minister himself "could have gone either way" - continues to be hotly debated.

Upon leaving hospital, Mr Johnson released a video message in which he heaped praise on Britain's National Health Service (NHS), the country's top healthcare provider and Europe's biggest employer, with a labour force of around 1.7 million permanent staff.

Calling the NHS "this country's greatest national asset", the Prime Minister went on to thank the "personal courage not just of the doctors and nurses but of everyone: the cleaners, the cooks, the healthcare workers of every description, physios, radiographers, pharmacists".

He singled out for special attention two nurses who took turns to stand vigil by his bed during his worst moments. And poignantly, both were foreigners: Miss Jenny McGee from New Zealand and Mr Luis Pitarma from Portugal.

Both became instant hits in their home countries; the President of Portugal, Mr Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, "personally thanked" his countryman for his work.

However, it did not take critics long to point out that Mr Johnson led the campaign for Britain's departure from the European Union, yet it was only by virtue of Britain's membership in the EU that a Portuguese nurse could come and work in London.

Critics also pointed out that under Mr Johnson's new immigration policy, which, by sheer coincidence, came into force last week, lower-skilled workers such as the hospital cleaners and cooks he now praises as being instrumental to his health recovery will no longer qualify for admission to Britain.

But with deaths from coronavirus infections now well over the psychologically important 10,000 threshold, opposition leaders were quick to ask whether the Prime Minister's support for the NHS will be translated into serious financial spending.

Before the pandemic began, Britain's health spending on a per capita basis was among the lowest in the G-7 group of most industrialised countries and, expressed as a percentage of the country's overall economy, Britain's health spending actually went down from 9.8 per cent a decade ago to around 9.6 per cent.

The government in London has heaped additional cash on the NHS in no fewer than three separate national budgets unveiled since the coronavirus emergency started.

But with Mr Johnson now out of hospital, the political truce that prevailed in London while the Premier's life was in danger is over, and opposition parties are attacking the government's management of health matters.

Chief among them is the slow delivery of protective equipment to health workers; "there must be proper, parliamentary scrutiny of the decisions being made", demands Mr Keir Starmer, the leader of Labour, Britain's biggest opposition party.

Aides are expecting Mr Johnson to be out of action for up to a month. Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab remains in charge of running the government.

Although all ministers claim that this arrangement works well, that all decisions are being taken as needed and that "normal Cabinet collective responsibility and principles that inform that will apply" as Mr Raab put it, the reality remains that the void in the heart of government is obvious.

That's partly due to the fact that Mr Raab is not a great communicator; his press conferences often fall flat. And although other Cabinet ministers have stepped in to conduct pandemic briefings for the media, the absence of the Prime Minister with his ability to galvanise government activities remains painfully obvious.

Furthermore, the government will later this week face a crucial decision on whether to extend the country's current lockdown.

Pressures to lift some restrictions in order to kick-start the economy are mounting. Yet ministers remain wary of relaxing restrictions only to risk another spike in infections and deaths.

Resting is not what Mr Johnson is famous for, so it is very likely that he will soon start taking charge of his government again, even if this is done by remote control.