BORIS Johnson must hand over the reins of power and focus on getting better, a top doc has warned.

Dr Hilary Jones, resident GP on Good Morning Britain, said that the Prime Minister is facing a huge challenge by continuing to try and run the country whilst fighting coronavirus.

Mr Johnson was last night admitted to an NHS hospital in London with persistent symptoms after testing positive for the killer bug 10 days ago.

Downing Street has said that he remains "very much in charge" of the Government despite remaining in hospital overnight.

Asked by GMB host Piers Morgan whether the PM should be resting and recovering, Dr Hilary said: "There must come a time when the Prime Minister of a country says I need to get well as quickly as possible.

"I think it's a bit of a handicap to have the worry of making policy decisions which are extremely important for the whole nation.

"He needs to hand over the reins of power now temporarily to his second in command and get on with feeling well and getting better."

Dr Hilary added: "It's a huge challenge to be running the country when you're fighting a temperature and fighting breathing difficulties.

"There's no doubt he is in communication with his colleagues, but there may come a time when he needs to pass over the reins to someone else."

Piers also questioned whether Downing Street might be playing down the PM's condition, asking Dr Hilary whether it was usual to go to hospital at this stage.

Dr Hilary responded: "No, absolutely right. The usual advice is to keep people at home if at all possible unless they're finding it difficult to cope with breathing.

"You don't really want to be in hospital at the moment for two reasons - first there are other patients there suffering from coronavirus and secondly you don't want to put an extra strain on the NHS if it isn't really necessary.

"I believe he may already be on CPAP - that's not confirmed - but that would be obviously a concern because it means the respiratory difficulty is significant."

Dr Hilary went on to explain that CPAP was a type of breathing machine, rather than a full ventilator.

"It pushes air at higher pressure into the chest, it assists breathing - in other words, it takes away some of the respiratory effort away from the patient," he said.

"It's something we use for sleep apnoea so they're not uncommon machines to see in people's homes but they can be adapted to help people with this kind of problem caused by CV."

Downing Street has described Mr Johnson's hospital admission - believed to be at nearby St Thomas' Hospital, as a "precautionary step", insisting that he continued to lead the Government, and remained in touch with ministers and senior officials.

It came just an hour after the Queen delivered a message of hope to the nation, saying "we will overcome it" although we "may have more still to endure".

Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State, is expected to chair the Government's daily coronavirus meeting today.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick stressed it was not an emergency admission and that he expected him to be back in Downing Street "shortly".

"He's been working extremely hard leading the Government and being constantly updated," he told BBC Breakfast.

"That's going to continue. Obviously today he's in hospital having the tests but he will continue to be kept informed as to what's happening and to be in charge of the Government.

"I'm sure this is very frustrating for him, for somebody like Boris who wants to be hands on running the Government from the front, but nonetheless he's still very much in charge of the Government."

Meanwhile, the former head of the civil service Lord Kerslake has said it may be "sensible" for Mr Johnson to "step back" if he is not well enough to carry out his role for now.

"I think in the end if he's not well, he will have to reflect on this because the job's tough at the best of times and it's doubly tough now," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

US President Donald Trump was among those wishing the Prime Minister well, describing him as "a great friend of mine" and adding: "I'm sure he is going to be fine, he's a strong man, a strong person."

And the PM's pregnant fiancee Carrie Symonds has said she is "on the mend" after spending a week in bed after also suffering coronavirus symptoms.

The 32-year-old, who is expecting the couple's baby in early summer, has been self-isolating in Camberwell, south London, with the couple's dog Dilyn.