British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says “it could have gone either way” for him while he was in hospital being treated for COVID-19 last week.

“It is hard to find the words to express my debt to the NHS (National Health Service) for saving my life,” he said in a video message posted on Twitter on Sunday, shortly after it was announced he had been discharged from St Thomas’ hospital in London.

Watch the video above

He thanked everyone in Britain for following social distancing guidelines and said he believed the efforts being made by the whole country were worth it.

The prime minister said he had personally “seen the pressure the NHS is under” while at St Thomas’ Hospital in central London for the past week.

Johnson mentioned by name several nurses who had watched over him all night to ensure he survived his coronavirus symptoms.

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“...And I hope they won’t mind if I mention in particular two nurses who stood by my bedside for 48 hours when things could have gone either way,” he said in the video

“They are Jenny from New Zealand - Invercargill on the South Island to be exact - and Luis from Portugal, near Porto.”

“And 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.”