Boris Johnson says Coronavirus has affected his eyesight

The UK prime minister Boris Johnson has revealed his eyesight has been affected by the Coronavirus disease.

Johnson contracted Coronavirus and was hospitalized in April, and spent several nights in intensive care battling the disease.

Johnson told the daily Downing Street press briefing on Monday that he was “having to wear glasses for the first time in years” after suffering coronavirus.

‘I’m finding that I have to wear spectacles for the first time in years – because I think of the likely effects of this thing – so I’m inclined to think there’s some … I think that’s very, very plausible that eyesight can be a problem associated with coronavirus.’ he said

Johnson’s comments come after top adviser Dominic Cummings said he made a 60 mile round trip from London to Barnard Castle in Durham to check if his eyes were good enough to drive back to London.

Cummings made the statement in defence of his controversial decision to disobey lockdown rules and leave London to travel to Durham when his wife became unwell.

He said he had fallen ill with ‘Covid symptoms’ of a headache and fever the day after arriving in Durham. After recovering, Mr Cummings said he got expert medical advice and was told he could go back to work but decided to drive with his wife because the virus had affected his eyesight.

Cummings said his wife did not want to risk the drive back to London and they agreed they should go for a short drive.

Mr Cummings said: ‘My wife was very worried, particularly as my eyesight seemed to have been affected by the disease. ‘She did not want to risk a nearly 300-mile drive with our child given how ill I had been.

‘We agreed that we should go for a short drive to see if I could drive safely, we drove for roughly half an hour and ended up on the outskirts of Barnard Castle town.

‘We did not visit the castle, we did not walk around the town. ‘We parked by a river. My wife and I discussed the situation, we agreed that I could drive safely, we should turn around and go home.’