Rosen out of intensive care after 47 days

Author Michael Rosen has been moved out of intensive care, his family has reported. The children’s writer has spent 47 days in hospital after exhibiting symptoms of Covid-19. The period was described by his wife on Twitter as "long and difficult", but she said his recovery was "continuing on the ward and will take time".

The tweet, dated Friday 22nd May, added: "He has done so well to get through this but please don't expect him back here yet."

A former Children's Laureate, Rosen was admitted to hospital in late March, after sharing his condition on social media. On 22nd March, he wrote: “Can’t stop my thermostat from crashing: icy hands, hot head. Freezing cold sweats. Under the covers for bed-breaking shakes. Image of war hero biting on a hankie, while best mate plunges live charcoal into the wound to cauterise it.” He later questioned whether the illness "could have been a heavy flu and not corona".

However, his family tweeted on 30th March that he had gone onto a ward; that he was "very poorly", and "having spent a night in ICU, he is now doing 'ok, stable, alert'". A later posting read: "Michael continues to receive excellent care from great @NHSuk. He is still poorly but has remained stable this week with some positive signs of improvement."

Rosen received an outpouring of support when he was admitted to hospital, including from fellow writers Philip Pullman and Malorie Blackman, and the hashtag #GetWellSoonMichael began to trend on Twitter. On news of the recovery, Pullman wrote: "I'm so glad to hear this. I send him my warmest wishes for a calm and gentle convalescence."

In total Rosen has spent eight weeks in hospital.

Rosen, 74, is best known for the classic picturebook We're Going on a Bear Hunt (Walker), co-authored with Helen Oxenbury, and was Children's Laureate from 2007 to 2009.

Most recently, in December, he published The Missing: The True Story of my Family in World War Two (Walker) for readers aged 10 upwards.