LONDON: UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid on Saturday said he has tested positive for COVID-19 and is self-isolating at home with “very mild” symptoms.
In a tweet, the senior Cabinet minister wrote: “This morning I tested positive for Covid. I’m waiting for my PCR result, but thankfully I have had my jabs and symptoms are mild.”
“Please make sure you come forward for your vaccine if you haven’t already,” Javid said, a day after the UK recorded more than 50,000 daily cases for the first time since mid-January.
On Tuesday, Javid, 51, visited a care home in Streatham, south London, and earlier that day he was in Parliament.
He got the positive test from a lateral flow test that he took after feeling “a bit groggy” on Friday night and says he is now self-isolating at home with his family.
“I was feeling a bit groggy last night, so I took a lateral flow test this morning and it’s come out positive, so I’m now self-isolating at home with my family until I get the results of a PCR test,” the Pakistani-origin minister said in a video posted to his Twitter account.
“I’m grateful that I’ve had two jabs of the vaccine and so far, my symptoms are very mild,” he said.
Javid also said people who felt groggy or came into contact with someone who is positive should take a lateral flow test.
“If everyone plays their part, you’re not only protecting yourself and your loved ones but you’re also safeguarding the National Health Service (NHS) and helping to preserve our way of life,” he added.
Javid, a former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, started his new role in the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) last month, replacing Matt Hancock who resigned after a leaked CCTV footage showed him kissing an aide and former lobbyist Gina Coladangelo in his ministerial office.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Hancock both caught COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020, with the former being admitted to intensive care unit at a hospital in London after falling seriously ill.
From Monday, lockdown rules will end in England, with suggested guidance replacing legal norms on face masks and social gatherings.
Meanwhile, the latest daily total of coronavirus cases in the UK stands at 51,870 — the highest figure since 15 January — and 49 deaths.
Some experts have called for some legal restrictions, including on face masks, to be kept in place while the infection rate remains high.
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