Status: 07/18/2021 2:26 p.m.
The British Prime Minister Johnson is now in quarantine after a meeting with the corona-infected Health Minister Javid, as is Finance Minister Sunak. Before that, there was criticism: Neither of them wanted to isolate themselves at first.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson goes into isolation for ten days after meeting his Health Minister Sajid Javid, who is ill with Covid-19. The premier’s office said Johnson and Treasury Secretary Rishi Sunak had been alerted by the nationwide corona warning app.
Just a few hours earlier, the government had announced that both politicians would take part in a pilot project, wanted to be tested for the virus daily instead of going into self-isolation and continue their work. This announcement met with criticism from the opposition and the public.
Hundreds of thousands of Britons are currently sitting at home after being placed in a ten-day quarantine by the NHS for coming into contact with an infected person.
Johnson isolates himself at the country estate
The warning app asks all people who have had contact with an infected person to isolate themselves at home. However, this is not legally stipulated. Johnson was on Checkers, the prime minister’s country estate, when he learned of his classification as a contact person. He will also spend his quarantine there. “He will not participate in the pilot program,” said the spokesman. Sunak will also isolate himself.
Health Minister Javid had previously stated that a rapid test for the corona virus had turned out positive for him. The minister is fully vaccinated and, according to his own statements, showed only mild symptoms. According to a report in the Sunday Times newspaper, he and Johnson had last sat together in an extended meeting.
Johnson himself was seriously ill with Covid-19 last year and had to receive intensive care.
Criticism of the opposition
Opposition Labor Party’s health spokesman Jonathan Ashworth criticized the government’s first announcement that Johnson and Sunak would keep working. Many people would now wonder why there was preferential treatment for the two politicians, he said.
Labor MP Angela Rayner accused members of the government of going “above the law” by not complying with the quarantine rules that apply to everyone else.
Far-reaching loosening despite many new infections
At the beginning of the week, almost all corona measures in England are to be lifted – although the number of infections is currently increasing dramatically. For the first time since March 2020, discos are allowed to reopen, and masks no longer have to be worn indoors.
The government justifies the relaxation with the high vaccination rate. Now 88 percent of adults in the UK have had a first vaccination. Almost 68 percent have already been vaccinated twice. The link between new infections and hospital admissions and deaths has been weakened considerably, it said. The number of new infections within a week per 100,000 inhabitants was last given as 360.