British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds, on Wednesday gave birth to a healthy baby boy at a London hospital, significantly earlier than anticipated.
The birth comes days after Mr Johnson returned to work after struggling with deadly coronavirus.
“Both mother and baby are doing really well. PM and Ms Symonds would like to thank the wonderful NHS maternity staff.”
According to sources, the baby was delivered premature, with the initial due date not predicted until late May or early June.
Symonds, 32, had previously said that the baby’s birth was due in early summer. This was not clear if Johnson, 55, will take paternity leave provided that the country faced the worst health epidemic since the influenza outbreak of 1918.
The newborn is the first child of Ms Symonds but the sixth one of Mr Johnson.
Mr Johnson already shares four children with Marina Wheeler, and has a daughter with art advisory Helen MacIntyre.
The child came two months to the day after the pair revealed that Ms Symonds was pregnant and they were engaged.
However, the name of the baby has yet not announced.
For Johnson, the latest arrival tops a turbulent month; he returned to work on Monday after recovering from COVID-19, which left him critically sick at the height of coronavirus epidemic in intensive care.
Symonds, a former director in public relations, also had flu symptoms but was recovering more rapidly.
For Johnson, the latest arrival tops a turbulent month; he returned to work on Monday after recovering from COVID-19, which left him critically sick at the height of coronavirus epidemic in intensive care.
Symonds, a former director in public relations, also had flu symptoms but was recovering more rapidly.
The politicians welcomed this news as health secretory Matt Hancock took twitter “So thrilled for Boris and Carrie. Wonderful to have a moment of unalloyed joy.”
Whereas Chancellor Rishi Sunak added, ” Great to hear Downing street is getting a new resident.”
In the meantime, the new arrival will be associated long with the coronavirus pandemic, the global phenomenon that has overshadowed Brexit in intensity and is taking a heavy toll on the UK.
The excitement of raising their first child together is likely to be the beginning of a welcoming new era, despite the near encounter of danger from the PM.