Britain’s PM has tested positive for coronavirus
Boris Johnson has been in close contact with the government’s chief scientist and all of the people in charge of trying to handle how the government’s various responses are going.
The prime minister is well enough to keep working, using technology, so for now he is not stepping back from the job he is doing in terms of running the government’s response.
There is a standby in Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who would step up if Boris Johnson has to take time off work. For now, Mr Johnson is still in charge.
This thing has moved so quickly but it is some time since Nadine Dorries, the health minister, was confirmed to have the disease. At that point it felt like a shock in Westminster. Since then, Westminster – the borough, not just the political village – has been seen to be a hotspot of the disease. Various MPs and officials from Whitehall have been self-isolating.
But until Thursday last week, the prime minister was appearing at a press conference on a podium, certainly much closer than two metres away from other people very critical to this effort: Chief Scientist Sir Patrick Vallance and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty.
Since then, they taken steps to change that and press conference have been taking place online. However, at this stage we don’t have a calendar of when Mr Johnson fell ill and when he was aware he was in a position to test positive. But there will be great interest in these dates.