Fully vaccinated UK health secretary Sajid Javid tests positive for Covid-19

The newly-appointed UK health secretary has backed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to remove almost all restrictions on July 19 amid a raging third wave of Covid-19.

UK health minister Sajid Javid on Saturday said he has tested positive for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and is currently self-isolating at home along with his family. In a video message posted on Twitter, Javid said he took a lateral flow test which has come out positive and is currently waiting for the results of the RT-PCR test.

Sajid Javid was fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as he posted a picture of him getting a second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine on May 16. (Reuters)

"I was feeling a bit groggy last night, so I took a lateral flow test this morning and it's come out positive," he said.

"So I'm now self-isolating at home with my family until I get the result of a PCR test. I'm grateful that I've had two jabs of the vaccine. And so far, my symptoms are very mild," the minister added.

Britain is witnessing a massive surge in Covid-19 cases, mainly driven by the highly contagious Delta variant. On Friday, Britain recorded the highest single-day Covid-19 cases in six months, taking the total caseload to more than 5.35 million.

Experts have warned that the variant of concern could threaten Britain's pandemic response as nearly half of the country's population is either partly vaccinated or unvaccinated.

A recent study suggested that a single shot of Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca vaccines “barely” induce neutralising antibodies against the Delta variant in individuals previously not infected with the coronavirus, causing concern for countries that have opted to maximise the vaccination coverage by extending the gap between the two recommended shots.