9News
Britain’s health minister says he has tested positive for the coronavirus and is experiencing mild symptoms.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid says he has tested positive with a rapid test and is self-isolating as he awaits the results of a more accurate PCR test.
“I’m grateful that I’ve had two jabs of the vaccine and so far my symptoms are very mild,” Javid said Saturday.
Javid took over last month from Matt Hancock, who resigned after breaching social distancing rules.
Although, Javid isn’t the first politician to test positive. His predecessor, Hancock, was ill with COVID-19 early in the pandemic last year, while Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent several days in intensive care with the virus in April 2020.
However, the news of Javid’s infection comes just days before the last remaining legal restrictions on social distancing and masks are lifted in England on July 19, which is being dubbed by some as “Freedom Day”.
Johnson is determined to go ahead with the country’s re-opening, despite new daily case numbers reaching over 50,000.
Other parts of the UK — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — are taking more cautious steps out of lockdown.
The British government’s top medical adviser Dr Chris Whitty warned late Thursday that the number of people in hospitals with COVID-19 is doubling about every three weeks and could reach “quite scary numbers” if the current trend continues.
One change that won’t be occuring come Monday however, is quarantine-free travel between the UK and France.
British tourists and the travel industry are venting frustration and anger after the UK Government reversed a plan to ease travel restrictions on France, just two days before the change was due to start, citing concerns about a variant of the coronavirus.
The UK government says people arriving from France must self-isolate for 10 days on entering Britain, even if they are fully vaccinated.
The announcement came just days after the government said fully vaccinated UK residents will no longer face quarantine as of Monday, July 19, when arriving from European Union nations and dozens of other countries.
British health authorities say France is being singled out because of cases of the beta variant, which is believed to be more resistant to vaccines than other strains.
Cases of the virus are surging in the UK, driven by the highly infectious delta variant, despite a high level of vaccination – hitting a six-month high earlier this week.
Britain reported more than 51,000 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest daily total since January. Friday’s government data showed 3964 people hospitalised with COVID-19, which is the most since late March.
Alongside the increase in hospitalisations, daily virus-related deaths have risen to levels not seen since March. Another 49 virus-related deaths were recorded Friday, taking the UK’s total to 128,642, the seventh-highest in the world.
