Prime Minister’s daughter Romy had Covid ‘quite badly’ but is ‘on the mend’, source says

Boris Johnson’s six-week-old daughter was badly hit by Covid, the Mail can reveal today.

Downing Street announced last week that a member of his family had tested positive for the virus. It did not state who the relative was but it is understood to be his daughter Romy.

A source said she had suffered with the virus ‘quite badly’ aged five weeks but was now ‘on the mend’.

Mr Johnson did not appear in public for several days after last week’s announcement, reappearing only on Tuesday when he gave an interview to Sky News about ‘Partygate’ revelations engulfing the Government. 

Downing Street announced last week that a member of Boris Johnson’s family had tested positive for Covid. It is understood to be his daughter Romy (pictured with Carrie and Wilf, left)

He appeared emotional and downcast – potentially partly explained by the personal strain on his family.

Yesterday, Mr Johnson appeared to be back on ebullient form as he faced down a plot from rebel Red Wall MPs.

Despite the defection of one MP to Labour, the coup attempt – dubbed the ‘Pork Pie Putsch’ – seemed to crumble yesterday. 

Downing Street insisted Mr Johnson would overcome any leadership threat and fight the next election.

Romy Iris Charlotte Johnson was born on December 9 at University College Hospital in London and lives in the flat above Number 11 Downing Street with the PM, her mother Carrie, 33, and the couple’s eldest child, Wilfred, 20 months.

Last Thursday the Prime Minister cancelled a visit to Lancashire, with Downing Street saying only that ‘a family member has tested positive for Covid’ without identifying who.

A source said Romy (pictured with her brother Wilfred, 20 months) had suffered with the virus ‘quite badly’ aged five weeks but was now ‘on the mend’

A No 10 spokesman then said the Prime Minister would ‘follow the guidance for vaccinated close contacts, including daily testing and limiting contact with others’. 

The spokesman added that he would continue to hold meetings and ‘for the large part that will be done virtually’.

While children who catch the virus are generally affected much less severely than adults, there is heightened concern about very young babies because they are so vulnerable.

Their immune systems are underdeveloped and newborns typically lose weight for the first few days of life before beginning to regain it. 

Mr Johnson, 57, who came close to dying from the virus in the early weeks of the pandemic, followed advice to isolate as much as possible while his baby daughter was unwell.

NHS guidance regarding coronavirus in babies says: ‘Newborns do not appear to be at high risk of becoming seriously unwell with the virus.

Mr Johnson did not appear in public for several days after the announcement, reappearing only when he gave an interview to Sky News about ‘Partygate’ revelations

‘However, close observation of hygiene is important, particularly with family members resident in the house. 

‘Anyone who enters the home should take standard hygiene precautions, including washing their hands, and be careful about handling your baby if they have symptoms of any illness including the coronavirus.’

In April 2020, during the first lockdown, Mr Johnson fought for his life after catching the virus. He spent a tense few days in intensive care. 

Around the same time, heavily-pregnant Carrie herself was bedridden, tweeting she had ‘the main symptoms of coronavirus’. 

The couple’s son was born at the end of that month.

In 2021, Mrs Johnson had a miscarriage, which she said left her heartbroken, before becoming pregnant with Romy.

When Mrs Johnson announced the pregnancy, she said she and her husband were ‘hoping for our rainbow baby this Christmas’. 

A rainbow baby is the term given to a child born to a family that lost one to miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death.

When her daughter was born last month, Mrs Johnson wrote on Instagram: ‘Thank you so much to the amazing maternity staff at UCLH for looking after us so well. We are so, so grateful.’

The couple married in May last year in a secretly planned ceremony at Westminster Cathedral, making Mr Johnson the first Prime Minister to get married while in office in nearly 200 years.