Coronavirus: Number of UK deaths rises above 1,000 - BBC News

The number of people to have died with the coronavirus in the UK has reached 1,019.

The latest government figures on Saturday showed there were another 260 deaths in the UK in a day, up from 759 on Friday.

There are now 17,089 confirmed cases in the UK.

It comes as the government said it was ramping up testing for frontline hospital staff who have symptoms, or who live with people who have symptoms.

Critical care doctors and nurses will be prioritised first, with testing expected to follow for A&E staff, paramedics and GPs.

In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, health workers are already being tested.

The jump in deaths is the biggest day-on-day increase the UK since the outbreak began. The number of deaths is 34% higher than Friday's figure.

The new figures include a further 246 people in England, with patients aged between 33 and 100 years old. All of them had underlying health conditions except 13 people, who were aged 63 and over.

In Scotland, 40 people have died so far in total, while the figure in Wales is 38. Northern Ireland has seen a total of 15 deaths.

The Department of Health and Social Care also corrected figures that it shared on Friday, saying the number of confirmed cases was 36 fewer than it had tweeted, at 14,543.

Among the latest public figures to announce they have tested positive for the virus is Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, who is self-isolating.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock are self-isolating after testing positive for the virus. England's chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, is also self-isolating, but has not tested positive.

Former Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell said politicians needed to "obey their own rules much more strictly" on social distancing.

In other developments:

• The car park of Chessington World of Adventures in Chessington has become a temporary drive through testing station for NHS workers
• Photos showed work under way to turn London's ExCel centre into a temporary hospital with capacity for 4,000 people
• Two new temporary hospitals will be set up in Birmingham and Manchester to help the NHS cope with the virus
• County councils are warning residents some services, such as recycling centres and adult education centres, will be significantly scaled back or stopped to prioritise keeping people safe from coronavirus
• The Local Government Association says council workers are being physically and verbally abused for implementing the government's social distancing policy. Workers have been spat at, sworn at and racially abused, it said
• The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said he had received about 300 complaints from employees and the public about businesses not following social distancing guidelines.
• The HCSA hospital doctors' union said potential supply issues should not delay the reported introduction of more stringent guidance on the use of personal protective equipment by frontline NHS staff.

The total number of people tested for the virus in the UK was 120,776, as of Saturday morning.

Currently, about 6,000 people are tested daily, but the government wants to increase that number to 10,000 a day by the end of March and 25,000 a day by mid-April.

The British Medical Association said the move towards testing NHS staff in England was "long overdue", following concerns that healthy members of staff may have been self-isolating at home when they did not need to.

The new tests being offered to frontline NHS staff - and which have already been used to check very ill patients in hospitals - are antigen tests, which indicate if someone is currently infected and risks spreading it to others.

Another type of test, called the antibody test, indicates whether someone has recently had the virus. It is not available to the public yet but Public Health England is ordering it in.

Over the weekend, the first of three new testing labs are expected to start work to process 800 samples, the government said. Samples will be taken around the country, initially focusing on coronavirus hotspots such as London.

Dozens of universities, research institutes and companies are lending equipment for the labs.

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2020-03-28 23:11:30Z
CBMiJGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy91ay01MjA3Nzk5N9IBKGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy9hbXAvdWstNTIwNzc5OTc

Frightened by Coronavirus, Many of U.K.’s Poles Are Heading Home - The New York Times

LONDON — As the coronavirus epidemic gathered pace, Jaroslaw Bacdorf agonized over whether to stay in London, where he has lived and worked for eight years, or head back to Poland to join his wife, children and mother.

After a morning phone call on Wednesday, he packed his bags.

“I spoke to my mum and my kids,” said Mr. Bacdorf standing in an eerily deserted terminal building at London City Airport, his baggage already checked, just a few hours after that conversation.

“My mum said, ‘Come home, you don’t know what will happen in a week, two weeks, or three weeks,’” he said.

In recent weeks, as countries across the world have closed their borders or set down stringent entrance requirements, many people have found themselves stranded abroad, forced to choose where, and with whom, they want to be at a time of crisis and anxiety.

In Britain, home to more than 800,000 Poles, thousands have taken repatriation flights, concerned with a relatively slow British response to the crisis and worried about the state of the country’s austerity-weakened health service.

Mr. Bacdorf’s flight was almost the last to depart London City Airport before it closed to civil aircraft, to accommodate the military as it helps equip a 4,000-bed temporary hospital nearby — a symbol of the government’s last-minute scramble to cope with the challenge.

To many Poles the British reaction to the threat has been too slow — complacent even — compared with things back home. “The Polish government seems to be much more strict in its response,” said Mr. Bacdorf, 44, a tall, bearded and good-humored information technology expert. “Here in Britain, I would call it a joke.”

“Even today, when I did some final shopping, people were gathering in their gardens, drinking wine,” he added.

Nor does Britain’s overstretched National Health Service inspire confidence, even if Britons sometimes seem to fret that foreigners exploit it. “Let’s be honest, it’s not fantastic,” said Mr. Bacdorf. “I used the National Health Service once and it was a terrible experience.”

Latest Updates: Coronavirus Outbreak

• President Trump says he is weighing enforceable quarantines for hot spots like New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
• New York State’s primary is delayed, and New York City may fine those who break social-distancing rules.
• Experts begin reconsidering advice on masks for Americans, even as shortage continues.

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Updated 8m ago

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He said he had planned to stay in London for another two years, traveling regularly back to see his family, but was leaving now that his workplace in London had shut.

“Paracetamol for everything — that’s my impression of what you get from the British health service,” he added, referring to the pain reliever Americans generally know as acetaminophen or Tylenol.

In Poland, a country of around 38 million people (compared with the United Kingdom’s 66 million), the virus appears to have been well-contained so far, with around 1,289 reported infections and 16 deaths — significantly fewer than the U.K.’s 17,089 cases as of Saturday and 1,019 deaths.

Restrictions in Poland came faster. On March 15, the government suspended international flights and rail travel, closing itself off from almost all foreigners. Britain, by contrast, still has flights arriving from virus hot spots, including Iran.

Poland banned gatherings of more than two people, excluding families, confined citizens to their homes except for essential activities, and limited religious services — including funerals — to five people. It reduced the numbers permitted to ride buses and trams so that half the seats are unoccupied.

To get home, Polish citizens have been using special repatriation flights operated by the national carrier, LOT, and, on arrival must undergo a compulsory 14-day home quarantine.

In just the first five days of that service, around 12,000 Poles used it to leave Britain, according to the Polish embassy in London. LOT said that in the first 11 days of the program, it had made 266 such flights from around the world — more than one-third of them from London, in addition to some that had left Britain from Edinburgh.

The repatriation flights are expected to continue until April 5, though after that date, Poles will still be able return home by car or bus.

Early on in the program, officials say, there was a minor panic as people saw little action in Britain and heard about drastic measures in Poland. Later, when Britain did finally instruct people to stay at home, businesses suddenly closed and many Poles lost their jobs, particularly in the hospitality sector, leaving them feeling they had little choice but to return home.

Some left reluctantly. Bartosz Zatorski, a student, whose part-time job in Manchester ended just as his lectures moved online, is more positive than Mr. Bacdorf about Britain’s health system and was impressed by the government’s pledges to give it whatever resources it needs.

“I hope to be back in September,” said Mr. Zatorski, 21, smoking a last cigarette in the sunshine outside the terminal at London City Airport before boarding. “I hope this whole situation will have blown over even earlier than then.”

But even he was surprised that it took Prime Minister Boris Johnson until last Monday to declare a virtual lockdown.

“It was all a little late,” he said. “In his first press conference in 10 Downing Street, I thought he would have shut all nonessential shops back then — not a week and a half later.”

For some, the virus has been both a logistical and a psychological drama, forcing them to choose between the pull of two identities. Alina Nowobilska, a historical researcher of Polish heritage who was born and raised in England, now spends more of her time in Poland but found herself in London just as the crisis was escalating.

She was struck by the contrast. “When I got to England everyone was like, ‘Whatever,’ and I was thinking everyone is locking down in Poland, the schools closed a week ago, the Polish government is taking things very seriously, everyone is listening to the advice,” she said speaking by phone from Bielsko-Biala, Poland.

“In Britain there were still football matches going on and I was going, ‘Are you serious?’” she added.

With its recent history, including the transition from Communism, Poland was perhaps more accustomed to dealing with crises and more willing to accept an interruption in everyday life, said Ms. Nowobilska, 33.

“Poles listened and sucked it up and got on with it,” she added. “In England everyone was saying, ‘I’m still going to the pub.’ Poland acted faster and as a result will get rid of this virus faster.”

Getting back was not straightforward. By the time details of available flights arrived by email they had generally sold out, so it took persistence, refreshing her computer every 20 minutes on the LOT website. But, once on board, the airline staff were helpful, and back home even the local police have been supportive, she said.

“My identity is complex, I was born and bred in Britain but I am tied to both places and have roots in both places,” said Ms. Nowobilska.

British health care was also a concern, she said. While there are “great doctors” in Britain, she felt that the overall standard of health care was better in Poland. “On the flight back the majority of people were saying they feel safer in Poland,” she recalled.

Now in quarantine at home, Ms. Nowobilska feels that she made the right decision. “My friends in England were laughing at Poland for overreacting,” she said. “But Poland went straight into action, and who’s laughing now?”

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2020-03-28 17:51:10Z
CAIiENV6JR_55M5CiTO0kArrwIgqFwgEKg8IACoHCAowjuuKAzCWrzwwt4QY

Coronavirus: Number of UK deaths rises above 1,000 - BBC News

The number of people to have died with the coronavirus in the UK has reached 1,019.

The latest government figures on Saturday showed there were another 260 deaths in the UK in a day, up from 759 on Friday.

There are now 17,089 confirmed cases in the UK.

It comes as the government said it was ramping up testing for frontline hospital staff who have symptoms, or who live with people who have symptoms.

Critical care doctors and nurses will be prioritised first, with testing expected to follow for A&E staff, paramedics and GPs.

In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, health workers are already being tested.

• How fast is the coronavirus growing in the UK?
• How to understand the coronavirus death toll

The jump in deaths is the biggest day-on-day increase the UK since the outbreak began. The number of deaths is 34% higher than Friday's figure.

The new figures include a further 246 people in England, with patients aged between 33 and 100 years old. All of them had underlying health conditions except 13 people, who were aged 63 and over.

In Scotland, 40 people have died so far in total, while the figure in Wales is 38. Northern Ireland has seen a total of 15 deaths.

The Department of Health and Social Care also corrected figures that it shared on Friday, saying the number of confirmed cases was 36 fewer than it had tweeted, at 14,543.

Among the latest public figures to announce they have tested positive for the virus is Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, who is self-isolating.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock are self-isolating after testing positive for the virus. England's chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, is also self-isolating, but has not tested positive.

Former Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell said politicians needed to "obey their own rules much more strictly" on social distancing.

In other developments:

• The car park of Chessington World of Adventures in Chessington has become a temporary drive through testing station for NHS workers
• Photos showed work under way to turn London's ExCel centre into a temporary hospital with capacity for 4,000 people
• Two new temporary hospitals will be set up in Birmingham and Manchester to help the NHS cope with the virus
• County councils are warning residents some services, such as recycling centres and adult education centres, will be significantly scaled back or stopped to prioritise keeping people safe from coronavirus
• The Local Government Association says council workers are being physically and verbally abused for implementing the government's social distancing policy. Workers have been spat at, sworn at and racially abused, it said
• The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said he had received about 300 complaints from employees and the public about businesses not following social distancing guidelines.
• The HCSA hospital doctors' union said potential supply issues should not delay the reported introduction of more stringent guidance on the use of personal protective equipment by frontline NHS staff.

The total number of people tested for the virus in the UK was 120,776, as of Saturday morning.

Currently, about 6,000 people are tested daily, but the government wants to increase that number to 10,000 a day by the end of March and 25,000 a day by mid-April.

The British Medical Association said the move towards testing NHS staff in England was "long overdue", following concerns that healthy members of staff may have been self-isolating at home when they did not need to.

The new tests being offered to frontline NHS staff - and which have already been used to check very ill patients in hospitals - are antigen tests, which indicate if someone is currently infected and risks spreading it to others.

Another type of test, called the antibody test, indicates whether someone has recently had the virus. It is not available to the public yet but Public Health England is ordering it in.

Over the weekend, the first of three new testing labs are expected to start work to process 800 samples, the government said. Samples will be taken around the country, initially focusing on coronavirus hotspots such as London.

Dozens of universities, research institutes and companies are lending equipment for the labs.

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2020-03-28 14:16:51Z
52780694704057

Frightened by Coronavirus, Many of U.K.’s Poles Are Heading Home - The New York Times

LONDON — As the coronavirus epidemic gathered pace, Jaroslaw Bacdorf agonized over whether to stay in London, where he has lived and worked for eight years, or head back to Poland to join his wife, children and mother.

After a morning phone call on Wednesday, he packed his bags.

“I spoke to my mum and my kids,” said Mr. Bacdorf standing in an eerily deserted terminal building at London City Airport, his baggage already checked, just a few hours after that conversation.

“My mum said, ‘Come home, you don’t know what will happen in a week, two weeks, or three weeks,’” he said.

In recent weeks, as countries across the world have closed their borders or set down stringent entrance requirements, many people have found themselves stranded abroad, forced to choose where, and with whom, they want to be at a time of crisis and anxiety.

In Britain, home to more than 800,000 Poles, thousands have taken repatriation flights, concerned with a relatively slow British response to the crisis and worried about the state of the country’s austerity-weakened health service.

Mr. Bacdorf’s flight was almost the last to depart London City Airport before it closed to civil aircraft, to accommodate the military as it helps equip a 4,000-bed temporary hospital nearby — a symbol of the government’s last-minute scramble to cope with the challenge.

To many Poles the British reaction to the threat has been too slow — complacent even — compared with things back home. “The Polish government seems to be much more strict in its response,” said Mr. Bacdorf, 44, a tall, bearded and good-humored information technology expert. “Here in Britain, I would call it a joke.”

“Even today, when I did some final shopping, people were gathering in their gardens, drinking wine,” he added.

Nor does Britain’s overstretched National Health Service inspire confidence, even if Britons sometimes seem to fret that foreigners exploit it. “Let’s be honest, it’s not fantastic,” said Mr. Bacdorf. “I used the National Health Service once and it was a terrible experience.”

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• U.S. cases surpass 100,000 as Trump signs $2 trillion aid package into law.
• New York may fine people in parks and houses of worship to stem the outbreak.
• As deaths surge, Spain and Italy look for signs of a turning point.

See more updates

Updated 29m ago

More live coverage: Markets U.S. New York

He said he had planned to stay in London for another two years, traveling regularly back to see his family, but was leaving now that his workplace in London had shut.

“Paracetamol for everything — that’s my impression of what you get from the British health service,” he added, referring to the pain reliever Americans generally know as acetaminophen or Tylenol.

In Poland, a country of around 38 million people (compared with Britain’s 66 million), the virus appears to have been well-contained so far, with around 1,289 reported infections and 16 deaths — significantly fewer than Britain’s 14,543 cases and 759 fatalities as of Friday afternoon.

Restrictions in Poland came faster. On March 15, the government suspended international flights and rail travel, closing itself off from almost all foreigners. Britain, by contrast, still has flights arriving from virus hot spots, including Iran.

Poland banned gatherings of more than two people, excluding families, confined citizens to their homes except for essential activities, and limited religious services — including funerals — to five people. It reduced the numbers permitted to ride buses and trams so that half the seats are unoccupied.

To get home, Polish citizens have been using special repatriation flights operated by the national carrier, LOT, and, on arrival must undergo a compulsory 14-day home quarantine.

In just the first five days of that service, around 12,000 Poles used it to leave Britain, according to the Polish embassy in London. LOT said that in the first 11 days of the program, it had made 266 such flights from around the world — more than one-third of them from London, in addition to some that had left Britain from Edinburgh.

The repatriation flights are expected to continue until April 5, though after that date, Poles will still be able return home by car or bus.

Early on in the program, officials say, there was a minor panic as people saw little action in Britain and heard about drastic measures in Poland. Later, when Britain did finally instruct people to stay at home, businesses suddenly closed and many Poles lost their jobs, particularly in the hospitality sector, leaving them feeling they had little choice but to return home.

Some left reluctantly. Bartosz Zatorski, a student, whose part-time job in Manchester ended just as his lectures moved online, is more positive than Mr. Bacdorf about Britain’s health system and was impressed by the government’s pledges to give it whatever resources it needs.

“I hope to be back in September,” said Mr. Zatorski, 21, smoking a last cigarette in the sunshine outside the terminal at London City Airport before boarding. “I hope this whole situation will have blown over even earlier than then.”

But even he was surprised that it took Prime Minister Boris Johnson until last Monday to declare a virtual lockdown.

“It was all a little late,” he said. “In his first press conference in 10 Downing Street, I thought he would have shut all nonessential shops back then — not a week and a half later.”

For some, the virus has been both a logistical and a psychological drama, forcing them to choose between the pull of two identities. Alina Nowobilska, a historical researcher of Polish heritage who was born and raised in England, now spends more of her time in Poland but found herself in London just as the crisis was escalating.

She was struck by the contrast. “When I got to England everyone was like, ‘Whatever,’ and I was thinking everyone is locking down in Poland, the schools closed a week ago, the Polish government is taking things very seriously, everyone is listening to the advice,” she said speaking by phone from Bielsko-Biala, Poland.

“In Britain there were still football matches going on and I was going, ‘Are you serious?’” she added.

With its recent history, including the transition from Communism, Poland was perhaps more accustomed to dealing with crises and more willing to accept an interruption in everyday life, said Ms. Nowobilska, 33.

“Poles listened and sucked it up and got on with it,” she added. “In England everyone was saying, ‘I’m still going to the pub.’ Poland acted faster and as a result will get rid of this virus faster.”

Getting back was not straightforward. By the time details of available flights arrived by email they had generally sold out, so it took persistence, refreshing her computer every 20 minutes on the LOT website. But, once on board, the airline staff were helpful, and back home even the local police have been supportive, she said.

“My identity is complex, I was born and bred in Britain but I am tied to both places and have roots in both places,” said Ms. Nowobilska.

British health care was also a concern, she said. While there are “great doctors” in Britain, she felt that the overall standard of health care was better in Poland. “On the flight back the majority of people were saying they feel safer in Poland,” she recalled.

Now in quarantine at home, Ms. Nowobilska feels that she made the right decision. “My friends in England were laughing at Poland for overreacting,” she said. “But Poland went straight into action, and who’s laughing now?”

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2020-03-28 13:03:05Z
CAIiENV6JR_55M5CiTO0kArrwIgqFwgEKg8IACoHCAowjuuKAzCWrzww5oEY

Coronavirus strikes UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his health secretary and his chief medical adviser - CNN

Johnson announced his diagnosis in a remarkable video posted on social media, in which he said he would continue to lead the UK government's efforts from self-isolation in an apartment in Downing Street. Minutes later, his secretary of state for health, Matt Hancock, also said he had the virus and would work from home.

The Prime Minister said he'd been tested on the advice of England's chief medical officer, Chris Whitty. A matter of hours later, Whitty said he was going into self-isolation after displaying symptoms of Covid-19.

The extraordinary developments raised the question of how many officials leading the UK's response to coronavirus had themselves been exposed to it. Downing Street, the center of power in the UK, is a maze of cramped offices and narrow corridors, making it almost impossible for everyone working there to practice the government's own advice on social distancing.

On Thursday evening, after displaying symptoms but before learning the result of his test, Johnson appeared outside 10 Downing Street with his chief finance minister, Rishi Sunak, taking part in a national moment of appreciation for the UK's health service workers. A Downing Street spokesperson said the pair were careful to remain at a safe distance.

Johnson was a late convert to the strict measures now in place in the UK. Only a few weeks ago, he boasted of shaking the hands of coronavirus patients in hospital, and the UK faced criticism for a more cautious approach to the restrictive measures adopted by its European neighbors.

"Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus," Johnson said in his Friday Twitter post. "I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government's response via video-conference as we fight this virus. Together we will beat this."

In a video, Johnson said he was experiencing a temperature and a persistent cough, which are key symptoms of the virus. He added that he was working from home and self-isolating. "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," he said.

Johnson will work in isolation from his four-bedroom apartment in Downing Street. The infection also raises concerns over Johnson's fiancee, Carrie Symonds, who is pregnant, and the myriad of other officials and advisers who work in close quarters in Downing Street.

Whitty, who has appeared alongside Johnson at many of the daily press conferences held at Downing Street in the past two weeks, said he would spend the next week at home. "After experiencing symptoms compatible with COVID-19 last night, in line with the guidance, I will be self-isolating at home for the next seven days. I will be continuing to advise the Government on the medical response to Coronavirus, supported by my deputies," Whitty wrote on his Twitter page.

The announcements come just over a week after a top government adviser on the virus, Neil Ferguson, said he believed he had been infected and warned: "There is a lot of Covid-19 in Westminster," referring to the area of London that is home to the UK Parliament and other government premises.

Ferguson had met with the Prime Minister, as well as Whitty, and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance. It was unclear, however, where Johnson may have contracted the virus.

Days earlier, the heir to the UK throne, Prince Charles, revealed that he had contracted the virus and was isolating himself at his estate in Scotland.

Johnson had been criticized for continuing to shake people's hands in public while government advice was to keep around two meters away from other people. The Prime Minister, Whitty and Vallance have been giving regular in-person press conferences to journalists on the virus after meetings.

His government has also come under pressure to test for the virus more widely and to provide WHO standard protective gear for doctors and nurses across the country.

In the event that Johnson is unable to fulfill all his duties as prime minister, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab would be expected to stand in his place. Raab previously served as Brexit Secretary under the government led by Theresa May. He stepped down after the UK and EU agreed on a draft Brexit deal, which he claimed had "fatal flaws."

Johnson last met with Queen Elizabeth II on March 11, Buckingham Palace said Friday. "The Queen last saw the PM on the 11th March and is following all the appropriate advice with regards to her welfare," the palace said in a statement.

British health authorities announced another 181 fatalities on Friday, bringing the death toll to 759. More than 14,500 infections have been recorded, but as the UK is not testing widely, true infection numbers are likely to be much higher.

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2020-03-27 20:19:00Z
52780690487176

Coronavirus strikes UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his health secretary and his chief medical adviser - CNN

Johnson announced his diagnosis in a video posted on social media, in which he said he would continue to lead the UK government's efforts from self-isolation in an apartment in Downing Street. Minutes later, his secretary of state for health, Matt Hancock, also said he had the virus and would work from home.

Later that afternoon, England's chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, said he was going into self-isolation after displaying symptoms of Covid-19.

The announcements come as British health authorities announced another 181 fatalities on Friday, bringing the death toll to 759. More than 14,500 infections have been recorded, but as the UK is not testing widely, true infection numbers are likely to be much higher.

Johnson and Hancock join a long list of government officials around the world who have been infected with the coronavirus. Johnson said his symptoms were mild and that he could continue working as usual.

"Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus. I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government's response via video-conference as we fight this virus. Together we will beat this," Johnson wrote on Twitter.

In a video, Johnson said he was experiencing a temperature and a persistent cough, which are key symptoms of the virus, and that he had taken a test on the advice of the Whitty, the chief medical officer. "I've taken a test. That has come out positive," he said.

He added that he was working from home and self-isolating. "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," he said.

Johnson will work in isolation from his four-bedroom flat in Downing Street. The infection also raises concerns over Johnson's fiancee, Carrie Symonds, who is pregnant, and the myriad of other officials and advisers who work in close quarters in Downing Street.

Whitty, who has appeared alongside Johnson at many of the daily press conferences held at Downing Street, said he would spend the next week at home. "After experiencing symptoms compatible with COVID-19 last night, in line with the guidance, I will be self-isolating at home for the next seven days. I will be continuing to advise the Government on the medical response to Coronavirus, supported by my deputies," Whitty wrote on his Twitter page.

The announcements also come just over a week after a top government adviser on the virus, Neil Ferguson, said he believed he had been infected and warned: "There is a lot of Covid-19 in Westminster."

Ferguson had met with the Prime Minister, as well as Whitty, and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance. It was unclear, however, where Johnson may have contracted the virus.

Johnson had been criticized for continuing to shake people's hands in public while government advice was to keep around 2 meters away from other people. The Prime Minister, Whitty and Vallance have been giving regular in-person press conferences to journalists on the virus after meetings.

His government has also come under pressure to test for the virus more widely and to provide WHO standard protective gear for doctors and nurses across the country.

In the event that Johnson is unable to fulfill all his duties as prime minister, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab would be expected to stand in his place.

Raab previously served as Brexit Secretary under the government led by Theresa May. He stepped down after the UK and EU agreed on a draft Brexit deal, which he claimed had "fatal flaws."

The positive test comes just two days after the 71-year-old Prince Charles, heir to the throne, tested positive.

Johnson last met with Queen Elizabeth II on March 11, Buckingham Palace said Friday. "The Queen last saw the PM on the 11th March and is following all the appropriate advice with regards to her welfare," the palace said in a statement.

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2020-03-27 17:59:00Z
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Coronavirus strikes UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his health secretary and his chief medical adviser - CNN

Johnson announced his diagnosis in a video posted on social media, in which he said he would continue to lead the UK government's efforts from self-isolation in an apartment in Downing Street. Minutes later, his secretary of state for health, Matt Hancock, also said he had the virus and would work from home.

Later that afternoon, England's chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, said he was going into self-isolation after displaying symptoms of Covid-19.

The announcements come as British health authorities announced another 181 fatalities on Friday, bringing the death toll to 759. More than 14,500 infections have been recorded, but as the UK is not testing widely, true infection numbers are likely to be much higher.

Johnson and Hancock join a long list of government officials around the world who have been infected with the coronavirus. Johnson said his symptoms were mild and that he could continue working as usual.

"Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus. I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government's response via video-conference as we fight this virus. Together we will beat this," Johnson wrote on Twitter.

In a video, Johnson said he was experiencing a temperature and a persistent cough, which are key symptoms of the virus, and that he had taken a test on the advice of the Whitty, the chief medical officer. "I've taken a test. That has come out positive," he said.

He added that he was working from home and self-isolating. "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," he said.

Johnson will work in isolation from his four-bedroom flat in Downing Street. The infection also raises concerns over Johnson's fiancee, Carrie Symonds, who is pregnant, and the myriad of other officials and advisers who work in close quarters in Downing Street.

Whitty, who has appeared alongside Johnson at many of the daily press conferences held at Downing Street, said he would spend the next week at home. "After experiencing symptoms compatible with COVID-19 last night, in line with the guidance, I will be self-isolating at home for the next seven days. I will be continuing to advise the Government on the medical response to Coronavirus, supported by my deputies," Whitty wrote on his Twitter page.

The announcements also come just over a week after a top government adviser on the virus, Neil Ferguson, said he believed he had been infected and warned: "There is a lot of Covid-19 in Westminster."

Ferguson had met with the Prime Minister, as well as Whitty, and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance. It was unclear, however, where Johnson may have contracted the virus.

Johnson had been criticized for continuing to shake people's hands in public while government advice was to keep around 2 meters away from other people. The Prime Minister, Whitty and Vallance have been giving regular in-person press conferences to journalists on the virus after meetings.

His government has also come under pressure to test for the virus more widely and to provide WHO standard protective gear for doctors and nurses across the country.

In the event that Johnson is unable to fulfill all his duties as prime minister, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab would be expected to stand in his place.

Raab previously served as Brexit Secretary under the government led by Theresa May. He stepped down after the UK and EU agreed on a draft Brexit deal, which he claimed had "fatal flaws."

The positive test comes just two days after the 71-year-old Prince Charles, heir to the throne, tested positive.

Johnson last met with Queen Elizabeth II on March 11, Buckingham Palace said Friday. "The Queen last saw the PM on the 11th March and is following all the appropriate advice with regards to her welfare," the palace said in a statement.

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2020-03-27 17:51:02Z
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