UK PM to self-isolate when not working, after Covid case

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will undertake "only essential government business" in the week ahead after he was designated a close contact of a person infected with Covid, Downing Street said Sunday.

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 spokesperson said. 

The development came just as Johnson's government prepares to ditch most pandemic restrictions in England on Monday. The pilot mandates daily testing for participants and outside of work, they must self-isolate.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed on Saturday he had tested positive for Covid-19 and was now self-isolating for 10 days.

"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," the Downing Street spokesperson 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 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 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".

- 'Pingdemic' -
Javid stressed he has received both doses of a Covid vaccine and his symptoms were "very mild". He said any member of the public feeling symptoms should get a test too.

"If everyone plays their part, you're not only protecting yourself and your loved ones, but you're also safeguarding the NHS and helping to preserve our way of life," the minister said.

However, with coronavirus cases again surging, many scientists say the government is endangering the NHS with its plan on Monday to scrap most legal pandemic requirements in England.

For the first time since January, Britain's daily Covid caseload now exceeds 50,000, and Javid has warned the figure could double from that in the coming weeks. 

But the government insists that with two-thirds of the adult population now fully vaccinated, the risk can be managed, and Monday has been dubbed "freedom day" by many UK media.

Munira Wilson, health spokeswoman for the opposition Liberal Democrats, said Javid's test result "shows no one is safe from this deadly virus".

Urging the government "to rethink its reckless plans for Monday", she said: "By easing all restrictions with cases surging, they are experimenting with people's lives."

The surge in infections sweeping Britain led to more than 530,000 people being instructed to self-isolate by a government-run app in the week to July 7, according to latest data.

Some companies such as carmaker Nissan have been losing staff en masse after they were pinged by the app -- in a brewing crisis described by UK newspapers as a "pingdemic".

Staff shortages caused by the isolation rules disrupted the London Underground network on Saturday, with one line suspended entirely.