As the government prepares to lift nearly all legal Covid restrictions on Monday, ministers are at pains to emphasise that the pandemic is not over. A helpful reminder can be found in the news that Sajid Javid has today tested positive.
In a video posted on Twitter, the Health Secretary — who is double jabbed — said he took a lateral flow test after feeling a ‘bit groggy’ on Friday evening, but his symptoms are ‘very mild’.
Given around a million Brits were told to self-isolate in the first week of July alone, perhaps it’s a taste of things to come. But as Javid now faces a period of self-isolation, who will be getting pinged and told to join him?
Javid is understood to have been in work in recent days, and reportedly even met the Prime Minister in No. 10 on Friday. Any minister who came into close contact with Javid within 48 hours of him experiencing Covid symptoms ought to be told to self-isolate.
There may, however, be a way out for worrying ministers. Back in May, after travelling to Portugal to enjoy the Champions League final, Michael Gove avoided isolating when he came into contact with someone who had Covid. He was one of 40,000 lucky Brits signed up to his department’s ‘test and release’ pilot scheme, which meant he did a daily test, and was allowed out if it came back negative.
But seeing as various sectors are facing staff shortages as a result of the test and trace app and thousands of holidays to France have just been cancelled, something tells Mr S that might not wash.
Is a chunk of the cabinet about to go into self-isolation, or are we about to find out it’s one rule for them and one rule for us?
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