Hunt spent the night under observation in hospital as doctors pumped him with fluid and antibiotics.

He is expected to make a full recovery.

The prime minister is adamant the illness is not connected to Hunt’s recent coronavirus vaccine, based on medical advice he has been provided.

And he is confident the minister will be back in time for parliament next week.

“He will be fine by next week, he will be back up on his feet,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.

“Minister Hunt and I have worked hand-in-glove over this last year in particular on this matter and until he returns I will be personally addressing the ministerial responsibilities of health and aged care, together with minister (Richard) Colbeck.”

Trade Minister Dan Tehan has spoken to his cabinet colleague and is confident Hunt will bounce back.

“He was the normal vibrant, bubbly Greg and he’s as keen to get back to work as he possibly can be,” Tehan told the ABC.

However, it is not clear whether Hunt will make it back for parliament next week.

“I’m not quite sure, it will obviously depend on the speed of his recovery, he’s having a series of antibiotics and my hope is he’ll be back with us next week,” Tehan said.

“But in the meantime, the prime minister has stepped up to the mantle and has taken on the health portfolio, so I think we can all agree that we’re in very safe hands while Greg is recuperating.”

There are now three federal cabinet ministers on sick leave.

Attorney-General Christian Porter and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds have both taken indefinite leave after being caught up in separate rape allegations.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews was also admitted to hospital on Tuesday after suffering broken ribs and damaged vertebrae in a fall.

Hunt was joined by former prime minister Julia Gillard and Health secretary Brendan Murphy in Melbourne on Sunday, when the three became some of the first Australians to receive the AstraZeneca jab.

At the time, Hunt said vaccinations safeguarded the community from more than just coronavirus.

“Whether it’s smallpox, measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough, influenza, and now COVID-19, vaccinations can save lives and protect lives,” he told reporters.

Hunt, who has served as health minister since 2017, has been overseeing Australia’s medical response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Morrison will not move Porter out of the attorney-general’s or industrial relations portfolios, insisting he is “an innocent man”.

The prime minister will also not seek advice on rape allegations against Porter from the solicitor-general.

“To suggest there should be some different treatment applied to him, based on what had been allegations the police have closed the matter on, I think it would be grossly inappropriate,” Morrison told reporters on Wednesday.

“There is no basis for doing that at law, at all. And when it comes to the principles upon which we run our country, that would be highly inappropriate.”

Questions have been raised over whether Porter’s position is tenable, particularly given he is soon due to release the Respect at Work report.

Former solicitor-general Justin Gleeson has suggested the government seek independent legal advice on whether Porter is a fit and proper person to remain in his position.

The prime minister said Gleeson was entitled to his view, but his department had provided no such advice.

“He is not someone who has been a particularly big fan of our government, I should say,” Morrison told reporters.

“But, that said, he is entitled to his opinion on this, but that is not the advice I have been provided at any time during the course of managing this matter.”

The attorney-general is being referred to the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia by a group of high-profile academics.

Morrison is aware of their actions but is unperturbed.

Relying again on his long-running “rule of law” argument, the prime minister tried to shift the focus to reporters at the press conference.

“If anyone here at this press conference was accused of a matter, you face the same process the attorney-general would, and you would have the same rights and the same presumptions made about you, as he would.

“Now, that’s fair. That is the fair go you get under our rule of law in this country. And I, for one, will not be one to undermine that.”