UK's prime minister Boris Johnson and health secretary Matt Hancock both test positive for COVID-19
- Reference: 1585312569
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/27/prime_minister_tests_positive_coronavirus/
- Source link:
With the PM having been appearing daily on live TV along with, among others, chancellor Rishi Sunak, and the country's chief medical officer and chief scientific advisor, you have to hope Britain's leadership have been measuring out their [1]Osmans .
In a video posted on Twitter this morning, the 55-year-old PM's PR minions declared that their boss had been showing symptoms of the virus and had tested positive today.
Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus.
I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government?s response via video-conference as we fight this virus.
Together we will beat this. [2]#StayHomeSaveLives [3]pic.twitter.com/9Te6aFP0Ri ? Boris Johnson #StayHomeSaveLives (@BorisJohnson) [4]March 27, 2020
The prime minister said: "I want to bring you up to speed to something that's happened today. I have mild symptoms of the coronavirus, a temperature and a persistent cough, and on the advice of the chief medical officer I did the test and it has come out positive. I am working from home and self isolating and that's entirely the right thing to do."
Johnson is not alone: earlier this week Prince Charles, the 71-year-old heir to the British throne, also tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19.
Ebullient as ever, Johnson rounded off his video by saying: "We're going to beat it together. Stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives."
His nominated stand-in, should the PM become too unwell to continue, is reportedly foreign secretary Dominic Raab, whose understanding of general governmental matters [5]has been rather questionable over the past few years .
One political wag joked on Twitter: "If you have a bit of a temperature, you could always hide in a freezer..." referring to the time when the PM [6]did that exact thing while fleeing from Piers Morgan's telly cameras.
Other news related to the spread of the virus from across the UK is alternately upbeat and less so. While millions came out to applaud the NHS in a [7]national show of solidarity at 8pm local time last night, social media workers from the police force continued to inform concerned members of the public over Twitter that they would be [8]using their drones to check identities and car number plates, despite some public backlash, while the National Police Chiefs' Council, a semi-official police body that decides which laws are enforced and how, [9]this morning endorsed Derbyshire Police checking on people going for walks in empty stretches of the countryside via drone.
The [10]Coronavirus Act and the Coronavirus Regulations are in force for six months but can be renewed by government ministers at will. ?
Updated at 13:06 to add:
UK health secretary Matt Hancock just tweeted:
Following medical advice, I was advised to test for [11]#Coronavirus .
I?ve tested positive. Thankfully my symptoms are mild and I?m working from home & self-isolating.
Vital we follow the advice to protect our NHS & save lives [12]#StayHomeSaveLives [13]pic.twitter.com/TguWH6Blij ? Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) [14]March 27, 2020
[1] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/27/reg_standards_soviet_social_distancing_measure/
[2] https://twitter.com/hashtag/StayHomeSaveLives?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[3] https://t.co/9Te6aFP0Ri
[4] https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1243496858095411200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[5] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46142188
[6] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/11/boris-johnson-hides-in-fridge-to-avoid-piers-morgan-interview
[7] https://twitter.com/hashtag/clapforourcarers
[8] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-52055201
[9] https://twitter.com/BBCDanielS/status/1243494395145576450
[10] http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2020/7/contents/enacted
[11] https://twitter.com/hashtag/Coronavirus?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[12] https://twitter.com/hashtag/StayHomeSaveLives?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[13] https://t.co/TguWH6Blij
[14] https://twitter.com/MattHancock/status/1243522325397622784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Lets hope
hes ok.
Partly because I'm not a complete bastard, but mostly because I have a huge stock of 'bozo the clown' jokes to use up...
Can we have a surgical mask icon please ?
The emergency regulations...
...do have their limitations and are challengable in court. (see David Allen Green etc for an analysis.)
But IMO we wouldn't have needed so much of them if we'd taken such advisory physical distancing measures earlier.
Re: The emergency regulations...
I've been trying to keep as much distance between myself and Boris Johnson for years!
Re: The emergency regulations...
I suspect there are a lot of children who wish their mother's had done the same.
Re: The emergency regulations...
Ministers say so.
This is the kind of thing that worries me.
Drastic measures should be time limited and put to cross-party consultation before renewal.
Really, what is needed is neutral observers watching Ministers during business at all times and reporting worrying behaviour.
As to drones following people walking in the countryside (presumably where there are far fewer people), it just sounds ridiculous, if it weren't such a waste of funds,
It all serves as a convenient dry run for future, more political crack-downs. Both bobby and the public will have become de-sensitised with the small ambiguous moral step on health grounds.
Re: The emergency regulations...
I assume there exceptions for world leaders... like he could meet Trump soon???
Re: The emergency regulations...
>>>
National Police Chiefs' Council, a semi-official police body that decides which laws are enforced and how, this morning endorsed Derbyshire Police checking on people going for walks in empty stretches of the countryside via drone.
<<<
What could possibly go wrong?
Why not add some facial recognition.
The essential part is to have "Sunset clauses"
(and I don't mean spotting people engaged in evening outdoor bonking - with possible arse recognition)
Ventilators...
I stupidly watched a clip of him announcing it. Like it's some kind of reality TV gameshow with him smirking and thinking that we'd actually care. Wrong.
Perhaps if his * government hadn't lurched from yet one disaster to another, lying and bluffing and waffling from one day to the next the country would be in a slightly less serious mess than it is now. Maybe if he hadn't chosen to ignore the EU's plan to purchase ventilators in bulk there would be more on their way now. However his government clearly stated that they chose not to. Subsequently his government claimed that they "didn't know about it" or "didn't get the email"... in relation to an invite to cooperate that was publicly broadcast in the open for all to see. It's either gross incompetence or belligerent lies or, given the track record, almost certainly both.
Others are starting to use rather stronger words and are calling it a starting point for manslaughter charges. I don't know myself if that's accurate but I understand the sentiment. If somebody actively chooses to not do something that would help, for whatever reason, are they culpable?
* He is the prime minister. The buck stops with him. He will of course lie his way out of this one, it's his only skill in life.
"Well, well, well... if it isn't the consequences of my own actions"
One rule for some....
So for the past weeks, we have been told that testing is confined to seriously ill people, who have been admitted to hospital, and there are no tests for the general population. There aren't even tests for front-line NHS staff, who should get them for pragmatic reasons alone (not infecting many others) even if they don't "deserve" the tests due to their roles.
Now both BigEars and BoJo have been tested after displaying "mild symptoms". Yes, they are important people, but "we're all in this together"? I think not.
AC because I'll probably get torn to pieces for daring to post this.
Meanwhile
ITN has posted clip on Twitter of Dominic "W*rmt**ng*" Cummings running away from No. 10.
Perfect Timing
He can be useful, as the test dummy for the prototype Dyson Ventilator