Foreign Secretary and Esher and Walton MP Dominic Raab is continuing to deputise for Prime Minister Boris Johnson today (April 8) as Johnson remains in intensive care fater testing positive for coronavirus.

The Esher and Walton representative is taking charge of the government's response to Covid-19 coronavirus while Johnson remains in hospital at St Thomas's in Westminster.

On Tuesday (April 7), Raab said he was confident Prime Minister would soon resume his duties leading the country.

"I'm confident he'll pull through because if there's one thing I know about this Prime Minister he's a fighter and he'll be back at the helm, leading us through this crisis in short order," the foreign secretary said yesterday.

By Wednesday, Johnson was reportedly "responding to treatment" as he remains in a stable condition in the intensive care unit where he is being treated, Downing Street said.

The Prime Minister continued to be in "good spirits" after spending his third night in St Thomas's Hospital in London, his official spokesman said.

Raab was last in his constituency on Friday helping to deliver food parcels.

"I’ve been working with an invaluable local initiative to get basic shopping essentials to those who need it most in Elmbridge.

This effort brings together the East Elmbridge Foodbank, Surrey County Council, local churches and the Besom charity in Esher.

"On Friday, I joined Jenny French from the foodbank and Alex Munro, the Curate at St Peter’s in West Molesey, to deliver food parcels to those who need them and either can’t or would struggle to get hold of them through other means – following the strict guidelines for delivering them safely," he wrote in a statement published to his blog.

On Tuesday Raab announced the scrapping of the government's previous plan to review the coronavirus "lockdown" measures that had been tabled by Johnson for Monday.

Downing Street confirmed that the review would not go ahead on the scheduled date and said it would instead take place after the three-week mark.

The move came as the chief scientific adviser suggested the peak of the outbreak could be being approached, but he stressed the evidence would not be available for at least another week.

When asked if the review would take place as scheduled, the Esher and Walton MP said:

"The critical thing is to take evidence-based decisions and so we've said that we will take any review once we've got the evidence that the measures are working," he said.

"And having the kind of impact taking us past the peak which means that they can be responsibly done. We're not at that stage yet."

England's chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said the peak - where the virus is at its most widespread - must be in the past before decisions can be made.

"It's really important that we get to the point that we're all confident that we're beyond the peak and then at that point start making it clear what combination of things and over what period of time seems a sensible combination to take us through," he said.