India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, MARCH 27— United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus or COVID-19 and is self-isolating.
“Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus,” Johnson announced on Twitter around 5 PM on Friday.
“I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government’s response via video conference as we fight this virus,” he vowed.
A Downing Street spokesman told Al Jazeera that Johnson, aged 55, experienced mild symptoms on Thursday – a day after he attended the prime minister’s weekly question time in the chamber of the House of Commons. In keeping with the guidance, the Prime Minister is self-isolating in Downing Street. He is continuing to lead the government’s response to coronavirus, the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished him a speedy recovery.
In early February, as the UK took a different approach to much of the rest of Europe in its handling of the crisis, Johnson said he was continuing to shake hands with people – even in a hospital in which he said there were patients being treated for coronavirus infections. Three weeks later (on March 23), the country was placed in a state of near-lockdown, with movement restricted and all but “essential workers” advised not to leave their homes.
The country has so far got 12,000 confirmed cases of Coronavirus – around 580 of them have died. More than 93,000 people have been tested for the virus but results came in negative.
Meanwhile, the United States now has more coronavirus cases than any other country with close to 86,000 Coronavirus patients, according to Johns Hopkins University, pushing the total numbers worldwide to more than 540,000. More than 127,000 people worldwide have recovered from COVID-19, while more than 25,000 people have died, including 1,288 in the US. Italy has the highest death toll with more than 8,200 deaths.
