Crisis as UK’s big three are floored by coronavirus
UK PM, health secretary AND medical chief test positive – so who’s next?
THE coronavirus dealt a triple blow to the heart of the UK government yesterday.
Boris Johnson revealed he had tested positive for the virus after developing a temperature and persistent cough.
Shortly afterwards, health secretary Matt Hancock confirmed he too had been diagnosed with the disease and was working from home. Chief medical officer Chris Whitty, who advised Mr Johnson to take a test after examining him on Thursday afternoon, then revealed he was also self-isolating after developing symptoms.
The triple blow came as Britain’s National Health Service braced itself for an onslaught from the virus in the coming days.
The official UK death toll jumped to 759 yesterday, with 181 deaths in a single day – the highest since the crisis began.
NHS chief Simon Stevens revealed that more than 6,200 people with the virus were being treated in hospitals in England.
Mr Johnson said he has only ‘mild symptoms’ and was self-isolating in Downing Street for the next week, cut off from face-toface contact with officials and ministers.
In a video message, he said he would continue to lead the ‘national fightback’ from isolation.
No 10 refused to comment on the whereabouts of his pregnant girlfriend Carrie Symonds, but she is understood to have taken the decision to move out of Downing Street some days ago to reduce the risk of contracting the virus.
She is thought to be staying at the premier’s country retreat, Chequers in Buckinghamshire.
Senior ministers have been told to limit all face-to-face contact with colleagues and officials in an effort to prevent the epidemic crippling the British government’s ability to respond.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak was working from home yesterday despite showing no symptoms.
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab, who will take charge if Mr Johnson is incapacitated, has been dialling in to critical meetings for more than a week to prevent the two men contracting the virus at the same time.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove was in Downing Street yesterday, but only as a lastminute substitute for Mr Hancock, who had been due to give the press briefing.
Mr Gove said: ‘The fact that the prime minister and health secretary have contracted the virus is a reminder that it does not discriminate. We are all at risk. It is a powerful reminder of the need for all of us to act to slow the spread of the virus.’
It came on a day of dramatic developments in the UK, as:
▪ Mr Gove said coronavirus testing
‘It does not discriminate’
will start to be rolled out for NHS workers this weekend;
▪ Police began fining people for breaching lockdown rules, less than 24 hours after new laws were brought into force;
▪ A 76-year-old GP was feared to have become the first UK doctor to die from the virus;
▪ The UK Treasury extended the coronavirus job protection scheme by offering to pay employers’ national insurance and pension contributions worth up to £300 (€335) a month for staff who would otherwise be laid off;
▪ Firms were ordered to allow staff to roll over their holiday entitlement for up to two years to prevent workers in key sectors losing their leave; ▪ Donald Trump called Mr Johnson to wish him a ‘speedy recovery’ from the virus;
▪ The NHS commissioned two new emergency hospitals in Birmingham and Manchester;
▪ Councils across England were ordered to find accommodation for rough sleepers to limit the risk of them contracting the virus;
▪ And Downing Street praised the ‘terrific’ public response to a call for volunteers, with more than 700,000 in just 48 hours.