Tom Moore, the centenarian who caught the UK public’s attention during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic by raising $ 40 million for the National Health Service, was hospitalized on Sunday with the virus, his said Daughter.
Mr Moore had been treated for pneumonia in the past few weeks and tested positive for the coronavirus last week, Hannah Ingram-Moore said in a statement on Twitter. He was rushed to hospital because he needed help with breathing, she said, but he was not in intensive care.
Mr. Moore is a British Army veteran who served in India and Burma, now known as Myanmar, during World War II. He became a national hero after completing 100 laps of an 82-foot walk on the brick patio next to his garden in Marston Moretaine, a quiet village an hour north of London, to raise funds for the National Health Service in Britain.
The laps that Mr. Moore completed each 50 meters while grabbing his runner and wearing a military-medaled blazer quickly caught the attention of the British public and its news media, who named him Captain Tom. He raised £ 32.8 million, or $ 40 million, for the NHS through an online charity service and has received praise from people around the world. Prince William, who contributed an undisclosed sum to the campaign, called it a “one-man donation machine”.
News of Mr. Moore’s illness came days after the UK exceeded 100,000 deaths from coronavirus. The country’s response to the pandemic has been rife with delays, reversals and mixed messages, most recently in the battle to contain a fast-spreading variant of the virus.
Even so, Britain’s vaccination rate is the fastest of any major nation in the world. Almost eight million people, or 11.7 percent of the population, have already received their first dose of vaccine.
Updated
Jan. 31, 2021, 9:01 p.m. ET
Ms. Ingram-Moore did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for Mr. Moore’s family told the BBC that he had not yet been vaccinated because of the drugs he was taking for his pneumonia.
“My thoughts are very much with @CaptainTomMoore and his family,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Twitter. “You have inspired the entire nation and I know we all wish you a full recovery.”
Following his donation success, Mr. Moore became a widely celebrated symbol of hope in a dark time.
Mr. Moore took advantage of his newfound celebrity status and established the Captain Tom Foundation, a .registered charity that deals with loneliness and inspires hope.
In September, he published an autobiography titled “Tomorrow Will Be a Good Day” which appeared on the Sunday Times of London bestseller list and a children’s picture book titled “One Hundred Steps”. And at one point he had the # 1 song in the UK with a Rodgers & Hammerstein-standard duet “You’ll Never Walk Alone” recorded with English singer Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care Choir.
In an interview with the New York Times last year, Mr. Moore drew comparisons between the beleaguered health workers fighting the coronavirus and the soldiers who won World War II.
“At that time, people my age, we were fighting on the front lines and the general public was behind us,” said Moore. “In this case, the doctors and nurses and all medical professionals are at the forefront. It’s up to my generation to secure it as we were secured. “
Queen Elizabeth II, who worked as a driver and truck mechanic during the war, rode Mr. Moore to knighthood in July.
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