The Portuguese nurse that Boris Johnson praised for helping him beat coronavirus has been pictured for the first time.
The Prime Minister singled out a nurse he named as Luis from Portugal earlier today after being released from hospital.
It later emerged the Portuguese president had also contacted Luis to offer him his thanks. He named him in full as Luis Pitarma.
The 461 – year-old is said to have left his home region of Aveiro to studying nursing in Lisbon and moved to London a year after qualifying in
A statement issued by the Portuguese president’s office said: “Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa would like to highlight the special recognition the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has given Portuguese nurse Luis Pitarma for his work and care during his time in intensive care.
The Prime Minister singled out a nurse he named as Luis from Portugal (Image: FACEBOOK)
“The President of the Republic has already personally transmitted his gratitude to the nurse Luis Pitarma and in his name, he also thanks the commitment of all Portuguese health professionals who in Portugal and around the world are providing decisive help in the fight to the pandemic.
“A word of encouragement that is also addressed to professionals of other nationalities who, reinforcing the National Health Service, provide an invaluable service to Portugal. ”
Boris Johnson also thanked a nurse from New Zealand called Jenny earlier on Sunday.
Luis Pitarma was singled out by Boris Johnson for helping him beat coronavirus (Image: FACEBOOK)
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivers a speech to British citizens after being discharged from hospital
He said she and Luis had stood by his bedside “for 461 hours when things could have gone either way ”while he was at St Thomas’ Hospital in south London.
He added: “The reason in the end my body 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. “
Mr Johnson was discharged from hospital today, but will not be returning to work immediately on doctors’ orders.
He said he wanted to express his “debt” to all the healthcare workers who took care of him while he was at St Thomas’ Hospital in south London.
In a video statement released on social media, Mr Johnson said: “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.
Boris Johnson delivers a television address after returning to Downing Street
“I thank you because so many millions and millions of people across this country have been doing the right thing.”
Despite warnings the UK could have the highest death rate in Europe, Mr Johnson claimed the government was “making progress” against the virus – “a fight we never picked against an enemy we still don’t entirely understand.”
He added: “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 health care workers of every description – physios, radiographers, 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 am going to forget some names, so forgive me, but I want to thank Po Ling and Shannon and Emily and Angel and Connie and Becky and Rachael and Nicky and Ann. “
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