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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson self-isolates after MP he met tests positive for Covid-19
The UK PM said on Monday he is “bursting with antibodies” after going into self-isolation for coming in contact with a Conservative lawmaker last week who later tested positive
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday he is “bursting with antibodies” after going into self-isolation for coming in contact with a Conservative lawmaker last week who later tested positive for Covid-19.
Later it the day, it was learnt that four more Conservative MPs were self-isolating after having PM Johnson: South Ribble MP Katherine Fletcher, Warrington South MP Andy Carter, Great Grimsby MP Lia Nici and Bassetlaw MP Brendan Clarke-Smith.
The developments came as UK health officials announced two new “mega-labs” with 600,000 more daily coronavirus testing capacity and faster results.
New daily Covid-19 cases in the UK continued to rise, with another five-fold increase compared to the previous peaks in April and May. As of Sunday evening, 24,962 new cases were recorded, besides 168 deaths and 1,922 patients admitted to hospitals in the last 24 hours.
Johnson, who had a bout of Covid-19 in March-April, went into self-isolation for 14 days after being informed that MP Lee Anderson whom he met had tested positive for the virus. The prime minister’s spokesman said he did not have any symptoms of the disease and will continue to work.
Johnson said in a video message on Monday, “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 - so many people do in my circumstances.
“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.”
British health officials said two new “very high throughput” laboratories will open in early 2021 in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, and in Scotland, adding capacity to test for Covid-19 and also in future for other illnesses, including cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. They will use cutting-edge technology, including automation, robotics and consumables.
The UK’s health secretary Matt Hancock said, “The radical expansion of testing has been one of the successes of this pandemic… We didn’t go into this crisis with a significant diagnostics industry, but we have built one, and these two mega-labs are another step forward.”
Since the start of the pandemic, testing capacity in the UK has grown from 100,000 tests per day at the end of April to over 500,000 tests per day at the end of October.
