Captain Tom Moore is admitted to hospital after testing positive for Covid, family reveal 

Captain Tom Moore has been admitted to hospital after testing positive for coronavirus, his family have revealed. 

He has suffered with pneumonia over the ‘past few weeks’, his daughter Hannah revealed in a statement, and last week also tested positive for coronavirus.

The 100-year-old was admitted to Bedford Hospital in Bedfordshire today after requiring ‘help with his breathing’. He is not in intensive care, his family added. 

It is unclear if Captain Tom has had the coronavirus vaccine. 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson led well-wishers after the news of the veteran’s Covid battle broke. He said: ‘My thoughts are very much with @CaptainTomMoore and his family. You’ve inspired the whole nation, and I know we are all wishing you a full recovery.’ 

The family statement announcing Captain’s Tom’s illness was posted on his Twitter page and read: ‘I wanted to update everybody that today (Sunday 31 January) my father was admitted to hospital. Over the last few weeks he was being treated for pneumonia and last week tested positive for Covid-19.

‘He was at home with us until today when he needed additional help with his breathing. He is being treated in a ward although he is not in ICU. The medical care he has received in the last few weeks has been remarkable and we know that the wonderful staff at Bedford Hospital will do all they can to make him comfortable and hopefully return home as soon as possible.

‘We understand that everyone will be wishing him well. We are of course focussing on my father and will update you when we are able to.’

The message was signed off ‘Hannah x’. 

Captain Tom has been admitted to hospital after struggling with coronavirus and pneumonia over the past few weeks, his family have revealed

Captain Tom receiving his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II during a ceremony at Windsor Castle. He raised almost £33 million for the NHS

Captain Sir Tom Moore (pictured in April) became a national treasure during the first coronavirus lockdown after he raised more than £32 million for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday

The war veteran became a national treasure during the first coronavirus lockdown after he raised more than £32 million for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday. 

He set out to raise £1,000 from his lockdown charity challenge but his efforts struck a chord with the nation, and praise and donations flooded in.

Captain Tom’s efforts earned him a Knighthood and a promotion to honorary Colonel and he was last month named GQ’s Inspiration of the Year 2020. 

He was knighted by the Queen during a unique open-air ceremony at Windsor Castle in summer 2020. 

Captain Tom also scored a No. 1 single, wrote an autobiography and is helping to set up a charity. 

He also launched a £35.95 bottle of gin, his own podcast and there have even been reports of a movie about him. 

His daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore, a recruitment officer, from Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire, revealed the fundraising idea came about after her husband Colin challenged his father-in-law to to do 100 laps before his birthday.

Mrs Ingram-Moore revealed how her father had a fall in their kitchen at the end of 2018 and had bought himself a treadmill to rehabilitate after he fractured his hip. 

Captain Tom Moore, with (left to right) grandson Benji, daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and granddaughter Georgia

Sir Tom came out with his walker one lockdown weekend and her husband said, according to The Telegraph: ‘Carry on walking, Tom, we’ll give you a pound a lap. Do 100 by your 100th birthday.’ 

The family were forced to cancel his birthday party in April because of Covid-19 restrictions but set up a JustGiving page in the hope they would raise £1,000. 

She told how the total went to £2,000 overnight and £12 million a month later after Sir Tom featured on BBC Breakfast and Michael Ball spoke to him on BBC Radio Two. 

She described how the family were ‘not eating or sleeping’ to manage the technology, phone calls and emails while keeping the recruitment business going.  

‘Dad could see we were so tired and he said: ‘Should we make this stop? I’m worried for you.’ It was a watershed moment,’ Mrs Ingram-Moore said. 

She continued: ‘We said: ‘No, because what you are doing is having such a positive impact on people around the world. We just have to manage it.’  

From Yorkshire to India: Colonel Tom Moore’s career in the military

Colonel Tom pictured during the Second World War. Boris Johnson described him as a national treasure during the Covid-19 crisis after raising almost £33million for the NHS

Captain Tom Moore was conscripted into the British Army in June 1940 when he was 20, alongside all men aged 20 to 35.  

He began his military career in Otley, West Yorkshire, where he joined the 8th Battalion, the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment under Lieutenant Lord George Saville.

The Regiment was sent to train in Wadebridge, Cornwall where they were tasked with coastal defence amid a predicted German invasion.

A young Captain Moore was soon promoted to Corporal and sent to the officer cadet training unit in Droitwich Spa.

Here, he celebrated his 21st birthday after he passed as a Second Lieutenant.

In August 1941, he was sent to the DWR headquarters in Halifax where he joined the 9th Battalion at Winchcombe.  

The infantry battalion then converted to an armoured regiment 146th Royal Armoured Corp, though the majority of the soldiers could not drive.

Captain Moore is pictured front centre during his days in the Army. He joined the Armed Forces in 1940 when he was aged 20

In October, the unit was posted to Bombay, now Mumbai, in India. The journey took six weeks by sea, with a four-day delay in Freetown, Sierra Leone and a four-day stop in Cape Town.

Captain Moore then took a train from Bombay to Poona, before arriving at Kirkee, a town now known as Khadki.

The 9th DWR formed the 50th Indian Tank Brigade under the command of Brigadier Schreiber.

Captain Moore was then asked by the Brigadier to start a motorcycling course for the Brigade due to his expertise for the sport.    

The Brigade was then ordered to move to Calcutta – the road journey was in a monsoon and took three weeks. 

His Battalion was stationed in the Lohardaga district near Ranchi.

They then took part in two exercises in the Arakan before moving further east and south to Rangoon.

Captain Moore was then sent on a course at the approved vehicle depot in Bovington, England.

He remained here as an instructor until it was closed. 

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