Chronicle Editor
The fallout from Boris Johnson’s meeting with a Tory MP who later tested positive for Covid-19 is growing — as four other Conservatives are now self-isolating.
The PM said he feels “great” on his first working day isolating in No 10.
In a video on Monday, Mr Johnson urged others to “follow the rules” if contacted by NHS Test and Trace.
On Thursday, Mr Johnson spent about 35 minutes with Tory MP Lee Anderson, who lost his sense of taste the next day.
The prime minister was contacted by a clinician at NHS Test and Trace on Sunday, who had spoken to Mr Anderson about his movements and decided their meeting counted as close enough contact to require self-isolation.
Mr Johnson, who was admitted to intensive care with coronavirus seven months ago, has maintained the pair followed all social distancing advice during the appointment.
The four other Conservative MPs self-isolating following the meeting include South Ribble MP Katherine Fletcher, Warrington South MP Andy Carter, Great Grimsby MP Lia Nici and Bassetlaw MP Brendan Clarke-Smith.
The PM’s period of isolation begins as the government prepares a policy relaunch.
Downing Street said a series of “critical announcements” would this week detail Mr Johnson’s “ambitions for the United Kingdom”.
Mr Johnson will chair “key Covid meetings” and work with Chancellor Rishi Sunak to devise the upcoming spending review with an aim to fulfil his promise to “build back better”.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock will hold a No 10 news conference later, which the prime minister had been expected to lead.
The new policy plans follow the dramatic departure of the PM’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings last week.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Mr Hancock said the prime minister’s self-isolation would make no difference to the amount of work he would be able to do “driving forward the agenda”.
Asked if the PM and Mr Anderson followed social distancing rules during their meeting, he said there were rules
“around Downing Street being a Covid-secure workplace”.
He added: “The central point is that it doesn’t matter who you are, if you are contacted by NHS Test and Trace and told to self-isolate that is what you must do.”
In the video, the PM added: “The good news is that NHS Test and Trace is working ever-more efficiently, but the bad news is that they’ve pinged me and I’ve got to self-isolate because someone I was in contact with a few days ago has developed Covid.
“It doesn’t matter that we were all doing social distancing, it doesn’t matter that I’m fit as a butcher’s dog, feel great.
“And actually, it doesn’t matter that I’ve had the disease and I’m bursting with antibodies. We’ve got to interrupt the spread of the disease and one of the ways we can do that now is by self-isolating for 14 days when contacted by Test and Trace.”
It remains unclear what effect, if any, previously having the coronavirus has on a person’s immunity but experts think reinfection is likely to be rare, BBC health correspondent James Gallagher has reported.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said there have been more than 25 confirmed cases of Covid-19 reinfection globally.
He added: “I think most of us think the rate of reinfection is quite a lot higher than that, but not enormous.” – Reuters
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