In U-turn, UK’s Johnson to quarantine after COVID-19 contact – KIRO 7 News Seattle

LONDON – (AP) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will spend 10 days self-isolating after contact with a confirmed coronavirus case, his office said on Sunday – undoing an earlier announcement that he will not be quarantined would have to be.

Johnson’s office at 10 Downing St. said Sunday that Prime Minister and CFO Rishi Sunak were both notified by England’s test-and-trace phone app overnight. He had a meeting on Friday with Health Minister Sajid Javid, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. Javid, who was fully vaccinated, says he has mild symptoms.

People notified through the app should self-isolate, although this is not required by law. Contact persons of positive cases are usually advised to self-isolate for 10 days.

However, Johnson’s office initially said the Prime Minister and Sunak would instead run a daily coronavirus test as part of an alternative system that is being piloted in some workplaces, including government offices.

That plan was reversed less than three hours later after an outcry over apparent special treatment for politicians. Downing St. said Johnson would self-isolate at Checkers, the prime minister’s country residence, and “not participate in the test pilot.” It said Sunak was self-isolating too.

The UK is experiencing rising coronavirus cases and related “pingdemic” of hundreds of thousands of people being quarantined for being around someone who tests positive. Companies like restaurants, automakers and the London Underground say they are facing staff shortages due to the self-isolation rules.

Jonathan Ashworth, health spokesman for the opposition Labor Party, said earlier that many people were upset that there was a special “VIP” lane to avoid self-isolation.

“When you wake up this morning to hear that there is a special rule for Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, an exclusive rule, they will say that this looks like one rule to them and another to the rest of us” he said to Sky News.

Johnson was seriously ill with the coronavirus in April 2020 and spent three nights in the hospital in the intensive care unit.

Ironically, his solitary confinement comes as his government prepares to lift the remaining lockdown measures on Monday. Nightclubs are allowed to reopen in England for the first time since March 2020, sports and entertainment venues can allow crowded crowds and face masks are no longer mandatory indoors.

But the government is urging people to be careful as cases are increasing due to the highly transmittable Delta variant of the virus first identified in India. More than 54,000 new infections were confirmed on Saturday, the highest daily total since January. Hospital admissions and deaths are also increasing, but thanks to vaccinations, they remain significantly lower than in previous infection peaks. More than two thirds of UK adults have received both vaccinations.

British officials nervously look to Israel and the Netherlands, both of which opened society after vaccinating most of the population. Both countries recently reintroduced some restrictions after new flare-ups.

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