John Prine remains “very ill” as he battles pneumonia in both lungs

Fiona Whelan Prine, the wife of Grammy Award-winning country musician John Prine, has confirmed that her husband is still in a perilously vulnerable position after contracting coronavirus

Confirmation was made that the 73-year-old singer-songwriter had been hospitalised and, after his situation continued to deteriorate, he was intubated in the intensive care unit. The news came just days after Prine’s wife, Fiona, said that she had coronavirus and that the couple were self-quarantining separately.

Now, after stating that Prine was in a “stable” condition, Fiona has provided an update to say that her husband is “very ill” but is confident that the musician can continue fighting the virus.

“This is John’s 8th day in ICU. He is receiving excellent medical care and being treated with kindness and compassion by the entire team looking after him day and night. I cannot be with him which makes this nightmare all the more distressing,” Fiona wrote in a Twitter update.

“As you know, John was put on a ventilator last Saturday. He still needs quite a bit of help with his breathing. Like many patients currently in ICU beds all around the world, John has pneumonia in both lungs. He has also developed some peripheral issues that are being treated with meds and antibiotics,” Fiona went on to explain.

The ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease was first officially identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei in China. As of April 4th, more than 1,130,575 cases of COVID-19 have been officially confirmed but the actual number is thought to be much higher due to substantial under-reporting of cases.

With more than 60,124 people having died from the virus, COVID-19 has now spread into more than 180 other countries—including mainland Europe, South America and many more. Given the exponential growth in cases in countries like Italy, Spain, Germany, France and the UK, the WHO stated that Europe became the epicentre of the pandemic after the strict lockdown in China saw reduced numbers. Now, however, as the virus continues to spread aggressively across The United States—who have more confirmed cases than any other country—the epicentre of coronavirus is expected to be officially changed to North America.