Cabinet Minister ‘ tested for coronavirus’
A CABINET Minister was last night said to be self- isolating after being tested for coronavirus yesterday.
The minister, who has not been named, is expected to be told today whether they have the disease.
The news came after Health Secretary Matt Hancock insisted that Parliament will remain open as Britain tackles the deepening coronavirus crisis.
Mr Hancock said it was vital the Government was held to account in a “time of emergency”. Earlier he had said he does not need to be tested for Covid- 19 after Health Minister Nadine Dorries said she had been diagnosed with the virus. He said: “I don’t have symptoms and I didn’t see Nadine in the period that she was ill.”
However, last night it was reported that another health minister was tested for the virus.
Boris Johnson will not be tested despite attending a Downing Street event with Ms Dorries days before she was diagnosed. No10 said they were following Public Health England advice.
She was among those present at a No10 reception alongside the Prime Minister on Thursday, hours before she started feeling unwell.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell was told to self- isolate following a meeting with Ms Dorries, who now says she is “over the worst of it”.
On the mend... Nadine Dorries
break began, are to open again. Health workers cheered as the last patient from the temporary hospitals set up in the province departed after getting better.
The country has seen 80,790 confirmed cases and 3,158 deaths.
But while officials were upbeat, the US announced its figures had passed 1,000 confirmed cases – with 28 deaths. Dr Brian Monahan, the attending physician of the US Congress, predicted there could be 70- 150 million cases in America.
Troops
He told Senate chiefs of staff, staff directors, administrative managers and chief clerks that they should prepare for the worst.
New York’s governor Andrew Cuomo announced that troops will be sent into New Rochelle, a town north of the city, where a one- mile “containment zone” is being enforced. It has seen the largest cluster of US cases, at 108 so far.
In California, Coachella – one of the world’s biggest music festivals – was postponed yesterday until October as was Stagecoach, another major US festival.