LONDON – United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson will undertake “only essential government business” in the week ahead after the state health service designated him a close contact of a person infected with Covid-19, Downing Street said today.
Johnson and Finance Minister Rishi Sunak were both designated but are taking part in a government pilot scheme that enables them to continue working, a spokesman said, after Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed yesterday he had tested positive for Covid-19.
Participating individuals must take daily tests and self-isolate when not at work, according to the pilot’s rules.
The development comes just as Johnson’s government prepares to jettison most pandemic restrictions in England tomorrow.
“The prime minister and chancellor have been contacted by NHS (National Health Service) Test and Trace as contacts of someone who has tested positive for Covid-19,” the Downing Street spokesman said.
“They will be participating in the daily contact testing pilot to allow them to continue to work from Downing Street.
“They will be conducting only essential government business during this period.”
Javid had a “lengthy” meeting with Johnson on Friday, according to the Sunday Times. The prime minister nearly died of Covid-19 last year.
Javid also appeared alongside ministers in Parliament last week, and one government source told The Telegraph newspaper: “I don’t see how half the cabinet doesn’t end up in isolation by the end of the week.”
Javid has only been in the job since late June, when former health secretary Matt Hancock resigned following revelations he had broken coronavirus restrictions during an affair with a close aide.
Jonathan Ashworth, the main opposition Labour party’s health spokesman, accused the government of double standards after millions of schoolchildren and workers were forced to stay home under Covid-19 tracing rules.
The pilot’s exemption amounts to “an exclusive rule for Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak”, he told Sky News, and the public will see “one rule for them and something else for the rest of us”. – AFP, July 18, 2021
