UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson self-isolating after meeting an MP who had COVID-19
pharmafile | November 16, 2020 | News story | Sales and Marketing |
The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has begun working in self isolation after coming into contact with an MP who later tested positive for coronavirus.
Last Thursday, Johnson met Tory MP Lee Anderson for 35 minutes. The next day Anderson lost his sense of smell before receiving a COVID-19 test.
Johnson tweeted: “Hi folks, I’ve been instructed by our NHS Test & Trace scheme to self-isolate for two weeks, after being in contact with someone with COVID-19. I’m in good health and have no symptoms, and will continue to lead on our response to the virus & our plans to #BuildBackBetter.”
In a video attached to the tweet, Johnson said he was “bursting with antibodies” and he was “fit as a butcher’s dog.”
Johnson contracted COVID-19 at the end of March, and was hospitalised in an intensive care unit due to his symptoms worsening. Despite his claim he has antibodies that could stave off the infection, it is unclear how long these last.
There have been multiple instances of people being reinfected with coronavirus months after an initial infection, including one example of a man in Hong Kong. He had first contracted COVID-19 during the initial spread from China, and caught a different strain when he travelled to the UK in August.
A more worrying case was discovered in the US. A 25-year-old first experienced coronavirus symptoms beginning on 25 March, which included a sore throat, a headache, cough, nausea and diarrhoea, and tested positive for the virus for the first time on 18 April, becoming symptom-free by 27 April. He tested negative for the virus twice on 9 May and 26 May.
On 28 May, he developed COVID-19 symptoms for a second time, which were the same as his previous infection with an added fever and dizziness. He tested positive for the second time on 5 June and experienced low blood oxygen with a shortness of breath, and he required hospital treatment.
Conor Kavanagh
