Britain’s Boris Johnson Once Again Under Quarantine

by Jenn Gidman, for Newser...

It’s a key week for the UK’s Brexit negotiations with Europe, but one of the most important players now won’t be able to attend in person. CNBC reports that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is once again in quarantine after he was informed he’d come into contact last week with a member of Parliament who has since tested positive for COVID-19, per a government spokesman’s statement.

Johnson, who contracted the virus himself nearly eight months ago and spent three days in the ICU, is said to have no symptoms and “will carry on working from Downing Street, including on leading the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic,” the statement noted.

The Parliament member who has the virus: Tory MP Lee Anderson, who met with Johnson last Thursday for a little over 30 minutes. Four other MPs are also in self-isolation due to meeting with Anderson, the BBC reports.

In a short video posted online Monday, Johnson said he feels “great” and as “fit as a butcher’s dog,” and that he’s “bursting with antibodies” after his last bout with COVID-19, but that it’s necessary for him and others to quarantine to stop the spread in England, which is currently under new restrictions as case numbers surge.

Although Johnson said that they’d followed social distancing rules at last week’s meeting, the Guardian shows a photo of Johnson and Anderson appearing to stand less than 6 feet apart, without face masks. When asked about this pic—as well as similar photos of Anderson with other MPs who’ve taken ill—Health Secretary Matt Hancock insisted there was social distancing and those virus guidelines at 10 Downing “don’t require [masks] at all times,” per Sky News.

Johnson, meanwhile, says Brexit negotiations he has to do while quarantined can be done via Zoom. (Read more Boris Johnson stories.)

Edited via Newser.

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