BRITISH PM JOHNSON TESTS POSITIVE
Prime minister’s top two aides say they also have the illness.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for the new coronavirus, making him the first leader of a major nation to contract COVID19, but he insisted Friday that he remains in charge of the U.K.’s response to the outbreak.
British Prime Min- ister Boris Johnson has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the first leader of a major nation to contract COVID-19, but he insisted Friday that he remains in charge of the U.K.’s response to the outbreak.
Two of Johnson’s top aides in the fight against the virus — his health secretary and top medical adviser — also said they had the disease.
Johnson, 55, said he was tested Thursday after show- ing “mild symptoms”: a temperature and a persistent cough.
“I’ve taken a test, that’s come out positive so I am working from home, I am self-isolating, and that’s entirely the right thing to do,” Johnson said in a video message posted on his Twitter account.
“But be in no doubt that I can continue, thanks to the wizardry of modern technology, to communicate with all my top team to lead the national fightback against coronavirus.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock was also confirmed to have the virus. Hancock, 41, tweeted: “Thankfully my symptoms are mild.”
Chris Whitty, who is chief medical officer for England, tweeted that he had “symp- toms compatible with COVID- 19” and would be self-isolating at home for a week.
Johnson, Hancock and Whitty have attended meetings of the government’s COVID-19 crisis committee and appeared at the government’s daily coronavirus press conferences.
Johnson is the highest-profile political leader to have contracted the virus, which has infected more than 500,000 people around the world.
Elsewhere, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa have all been tested and found to be negative. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau self-isolated after his wife tested positive for COVID-19.
T he British diagnoses are the latest evidence that no one — no matter how high-profile — is untouched by the global pandemic.
Politicians may be especially exposed, since they interact with large numbers of people. Britain’s Parliament continued to meet as the virus spread, before it was eventually suspended on Wednesday — hours after Johnson held his regular question-and-answer session with lawmakers.
Parliamentary authorities are now facing questions about why they did not shut down sooner.
Susan Michie, professor of health psychology at University College London, said that those in government should “practice what they preach” about social distancing.