London: UK Health Minister and Conservative MP Nadine Dorries has tested positive for coronavirus, raising concerns about the potential spread of the infection among lawmakers as she attended an event hosted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Downing Street last week.
Dorries, 62, the first British MP to be diagnosed with coronavirus, said she has been self-isolating at home, as the government stepped up its preparations to tackle the outbreak.
“I can confirm I have tested positive for coronavirus. As soon as I was informed I took all the advised precautions and have been self-isolating at home,” Dorries said in a statement released by the Department of Health and Social Care.
The department said Dorries first showed symptoms last Thursday, the same day she attended an event hosted by Johnson. Dorries said that health officials had started tracing people she had been in contact with, and the department and her parliamentary office were closely following its advice.
“Thanks for so many good wishes. It’s been pretty rubbish but I hope I’m over the worst of it now,” Dorries tweeted. She said she is worried about her 84-year-old mother who is staying with her.
“More worried about my 84yo mum who is staying with me and began with the cough today. She is being tested tomorrow. Keep safe and keep washing those hands, everyone,” tweeted the MP for Bedfordshire.
Opposition Labour’s Rachael Maskell revealed she had been advised by the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) 111 helpline to self- isolate following a meeting with Dorries last Thursday, even though she is displaying no symptoms of COVID-19.
“Everybody has got to take the advice of Public Health England and therefore I trust the Prime Minister has also contacted NHS 111,” Maskell said, in reference to Dorries’ Downing Street visit.
Six people with the virus have died in the UK, with a total of 382 cases so far. One of them was an elderly member of the Bhaktivedanta Manor Hare Krishna Temple in Watford, north-west London, and has not been formally named.
Agencies