British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to the intensive care unit of a London hospital after his coronavirus symptoms worsened.

Johnson's office says Johnson is conscious and does not require ventilation at the moment.

Johnson was admitted to St. Thomas' Hospital late Sunday, 10 days after he was diagnosed with COVID-19.

Johnson has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to deputize for him.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was in good spirits Monday after spending the night in a London hospital where he was admitted with the new coronavirus.

There was no indication of how long Johnson might remain hospitalized. The prime minister's spokesman said Johnson had spent a comfortable night and remained in charge of government despite being admitted to St Thomas' Hospital after COVID-19 symptoms of a cough and fever persisted, 10 days after he was diagnosed.

Johnson sent out a tweet thanking the National Health Service for taking care of him and others in this difficult time.

"On the advice of my doctor, I went into hospital for some routine tests as I'm still experiencing coronavirus symptoms,'' Johnson said in the tweet. "I'm in good spirits and keeping in touch with my team, as we work together to fight this virus and keep everyone safe.''.

Johnson's spokesman, James Slack, refused to say what kind of tests Johnson was undergoing. He insisted that "the PM remains in charge of the government."

"He is receiving updates in hospital and is continuing to receive a (ministerial red) box" of files and briefing papers, Slack said,

The 55-year-old leader had been quarantined in his Downing Street residence since being diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26 — the first known head of government to fall ill with the virus.

He continued to preside at daily meetings on the outbreak until Sunday and has released several video messages during his 10 days in isolation. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab chaired the meeting Monday.

Britain has no official post of deputy prime minister, but Raab has been designated to take over should Johnson become incapacitated.

Speaking at the government's daily coronavirus press briefing, Raab said Johnson was being "regularly updated," but admitted he had not spoken to him since Saturday.

 "He's in charge, but he'll continue to take doctors' advice on what to do next," Raab said.

Johnson was admitted to the hospital as a message to the nation from Queen Elizabeth II was being broadcast Sunday evening. The 93-year-old monarch urged the public to show resolve and follow advice to stay inside.

Concerns had been growing about Johnson's welfare ever since he posted a message Friday saying that he was feeling better, though was still feverish.

The virus causes mild to moderate symptoms in most people, but for some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause pneumonia and lead to death.

The government said Monday that 51,608 people had been confirmed to have the coronavirus in Britain, 5,373 of whom have died.

One of the advantages of being in the hospital is that it will allow doctors to directly monitor Johnson's condition.

Derek Hill, a professor of medical imaging science at University College London said that since COVID-19 causes difficulty breathing, one test performed on people with the disease is lung imaging with ultrasound or CT scans to see how badly they might be affected.

"Some people are rapidly discharged,'' he said. "Some others can quickly deteriorate and need help breathing. We have no reason to believe the PM needs such help.''

Hill said there are various types of breathing help, depending on the person and the difficulties.

"The reasons some people get seriously ill with COVID-19 while others have minor symptoms is not yet fully understood," Hill said. "But doctors managing these patients report that more men than women have serious problems, and patients who are overweight or have previous health problems are at higher risk."

Germany has reported 95,391 confirmed cases of COVID-19, an increase of 3,677 over the past 24 hours, including 1,434 total deaths, the country's disease control agency said Monday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said current lockdown measures will extend to April 19 and stressed now "is much too early" to relax the government's strict measures to combat the spread of coronavirus.

Merkel also called upon people to avoid gatherings and outings during the upcoming Easter holiday.

Italian health officials said Sunday that the nationwide quarantine put into place nearly a month ago is starting to show measurable results, as the one-day coronavirus death toll showed its smallest increase in nearly three weeks and the number of hospitalized patients declined.

"We cannot let our guard down, but the trend" is positive, Angelo Borrelli, the head of Italy's Civil Protection Department, said Sunday. "It is still essential for residents to continue to stay at home and to leave only for the proven needs allowed" under quarantine rules.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced the country's first national coronavirus quarantine, the first in Europe, earlier last month. Officially, it is set to expire on April 13, though Borrelli and other ranking officials have speculated it will be further extended far beyond that date.

Conte himself said Sunday that it was "impossible" to predict when the crisis would end in Italy.

Between Saturday and Sunday, the coronavirus death toll in Italy was 525, the lowest one-day total since March 19, when COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, claimed 427 lives.

The country registered its one-day high of 969 fatalities on March 27. The death toll has decreased in five of nine days since then.

Still, the pandemic that claimed its first life in Italy on Feb. 20 has now resulted in 15,887 deaths, more than in any other country based on official figures.

The total number of coronavirus patients in Italian hospitals also declined, slightly: 28,949 are hospitalized with symptoms, 61 fewer than a day earlier, and 3,977 are in intensive care units, down 17 from the previous day.

The total number of recovered individuals rose to 21,815, an increase of 819. That number is smaller than the 1,238 registered as cured in the previous 24-hour period.

The number of active cases in the country climbed to 91,246 on Sunday, up from 88,274 a day earlier. All told, Italy has registered a total of 128,948 cases since the start of the outbreak, up from 124,632 registered Saturday.

Earlier on Sunday, Borrelli announced that domestic production of protective masks had increased to the point that every resident will have access to them within days, a step that will further enhance Italy's battle to contain the pandemic.

On the day, the northern Italian Alpine region of Valle d'Aosta, one of the Italian regions hit least hard by the outbreak with only 576 active cases, became the first Italian region to make the use of protective gloves and masks obligatory for anyone leaving their homes in the region.

According to Italian Minister of Public Administration Fabiana Dadone, Italian civil servants are making a quick shift to working at home during the pandemic. Dadone said nearly three in four public workers still working did their jobs from home last week, compared to around 5 percent prior to the start of the crisis.

A man wielding a knife attacked residents of a French town while they ventured out to shop amid a coronavirus lockdown Saturday, killing two people and wounding eight others, authorities said.

Police later arrested the assailant nearby, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said, thanking shopkeepers for their help. Castaner said authorities were studying whether to qualify the attack in the town of Romans-sur-Isere as an act of terrorism.

While more investigating is needed, "it seems that all the risks have been neutralized" because of a quick police intervention, Castaner told reporters at the scene south of the city of Lyon.

Two people were killed and eight injured, he said. French media reported that three were in critical condition.

France's anti-terrorism prosecutor's office told The Associated Press the attack took place at 11 a.m. on a commercial street.

Prosecutors did not identify the suspect. They said he had no identifying documents but claimed to be Sudanese and to have been born in 1987.

The prosecutor's office did not confirm reports that the man had shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is great) as he carried out the attack.

The office said it was evaluating whether the attack was motivated by terrorism, but that it has not launched any formal proceedings to treat it as such.

Some 100 police and 45 firefighters were involved in the operation and securing the area, Castaner said.

Like the rest of France, the town's residents are on coronavirus-linked lockdown. The victims were carrying out their weekend food shopping on the street that has bakeries and grocers, the office said. Two-meter distancing is being encouraged as in the rest of the country.

Media reported that the knifeman first attacked a Romanian resident who had just left his home for his daily walk — slitting his throat in front of his girlfriend and son.

Following that, they reported, the assailant entered a tobacco shop, stabbed the tobacconist and two customers, and then went into the local butcher's shop. He grabbed another knife and attacked a client with the blunt end before entering a supermarket.

Some shoppers took refuge in a nearby bakery.

There have been a number of knife attacks in France in recent months. In January, French police shot and injured a man in Metz who was waving a knife and shouting "Allahu akbar."

Two days earlier, another man was shot dead by police after he stabbed one person fatally and wounded two others in a Paris suburb.

It is unclear whether the suspect in Saturday's attack had psychological problems or any links to extremism. Analysts say some extremist groups see the upheaval from the virus pandemic as an opportunity to win over more supporters.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has proposed a multibillion-euro (dollar) European Union fund to help countries in the 27-nation bloc whose health care systems have been hardest-hit by the coronavirus outbreak.

In an interview broadcast Wednesday night by Dutch news show Nieuwsuur, Rutte said: "We are, of course, in solidarity with South Europe. There's no doubt about it."

The proposed fund and Rutte's comments follow harsh criticism of the Dutch from southern European nations over the country's opposition to an issuance of joint European debt, known as coronabonds or eurobonds, and comments attributed to Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra about Spain's ability to fund its medical response to the virus.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa last week called the comments "repugnant."

"Hoekstra and I have said we could have communicated in a more subtle way," Rutte told Nieuwsuur.

Now Rutte says the Dutch have "taken the initiative to establish a fund in the form of gifts for countries that are economically weaker to help them with the health care costs of fighting the coronavirus."

He expects the fund to reach 10-20 billion euros if other EU nations agree to it.

However, he also stressed that the Dutch still oppose issuing European debt to help hard-hit economies.

"The Netherlands is against that for very many reasons — it doesn't fit into the euro system," he said. "Another thought that we have is that's what the European emergency fund ... is for."

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte said earlier this week he hoped the European Union would put together a cohesive response to the plight of countries like his, whose economy has been crippled by the coronavirus outbreak.

Conte vowed to fight for a "strong and cohesive European response" and called the crisis "an appointment with history. Europe must say if it's ready for this appointment" to effectively deal with social and economic shock wreaked by the pandemic.