Boris Johnson SELF-ISOLATES after holding a 35-minute meeting with MP who later tested positive for Covid - even though PM already had the virus once
Boris Johnson has been forced to self isolate after coming into contact with an MP who tested positive for Covid-19.
On Thursday, the Prime Minister held a 35-minute meeting with a group of MPs including Lee Anderson who later tested positive for the virus.
Mr Johnson has no symptoms of Covid-19 and will continue to work from Downing Street, his official spokesperson said.
The PM nearly died during his battle with coronavirus earlier this year.
Intensive care doctors at St Thomas' Hospital in central London plied Mr Johnson with 'litres and litres' of oxygen as his chances of survival balanced on a knife-edge.
News of Mr Johnson's second stint in isolation comes one day before the Government's big relaunch after the last few days brought political chaos to Downing Street.
Events culminated in the PM's Svengali Dominic Cummings dramatically carrying his belongings out the front door of No10 in a cardboard box following a brutal reckoning that saw his closest ally Lee Cain fall on his sword, having failed to secure the key role of Mr Johnson's chief of staff.
Boris Johnson has been forced to self isolate after coming into contact with MP Lee Anderson who tested positive for Covid-19
On Thursday, the Prime Minister held a 35-minute meeting with a group of MPs including Mr Anderson who later tested positive for the virus. Pictured: The PM and Mr Anderson at Thursday's meeting
Ashfield MP Mr Anderson (pictured with Mr Johnson in a file image)- part of Mr Johnson's Red Wall who helped him win the 2019 general election - wrote on Facebook that he was isolating
CAN YOU CATCH COVID-19 TWICE?
Early on in the pandemic, scientists were baffled as to whether or not you could catch Covid-19 twice. Now the evidence is more convincing, following a string of reports of re-infections all over the world.
With some illnesses such as chickenpox, the immune system can remember exactly how to destroy it and becomes able to fend it off if it ever tries to enter the body again.
Tests have shown that many people who recover from Covid-19 have antibodies - which can produce future immunity - but it is not known whether there are enough of them.
However, antibodies are only one type of substance that can produce immunity. The immune system is a huge web of proteins that have different functions to protect the body against infection.
Others, including white blood cells called T cells and B cells, can also help the body to fight off disease but are more difficult to discover using currently available tests.
Evidence is beginning to suggest that antibodies disappear in as little as eight weeks after infection with the coronavirus, scientifically called SARS-Cov-2.
On the other hand, T cells - which target and destroy cells already infected with the virus - are 'durable'.
A promising study done on monkeys found that they were unable to catch Covid-19 a second time after recovering from it, which led scientists to believe the same may apply to humans.
The rhesus monkeys were deliberately reinfected by scientists in China to test how their bodies reacted.
Because the coronavirus has only been known to scientists for less than a year there has not been enough time to study whether people develop long-term immunity.
Last month, a 25-year-old man became the first person in the US to contract coronavirus for a second time - which struck him harder than his first bout of the disease.
The unidentified patient first tested positive in April after showing mild symptoms of a sore throat, cough, headache, nausea and diarrhea. But, after recovering and receiving two negative tests, he began experiencing similar warning signs in May.
He tested positive - 48 days after the first negative test - and suffered a more severe infection. He was hospitalized, required oxygen, and endured coughs, muscle aches and shortness of breath. An X-ray also suggested viral pneumonia, which can be deadly.
Genetic sequencing reveals the patient, of Washoe County in Nevada, was infected by two different strains of coronavirus. He is the world's fifth known cases of COVID-19 re-infection.
Ashfield MP Mr Anderson - part of Mr Johnson's Red Wall who helped him win the 2019 general election - shared an image of himself and Mr Johnson to Facebook after the meeting this week.
The pair stood a safe distance apart in the picture which was captioned: 'Breakfast with the PM. This morning I met with the PM at Number 10.
'I was there with my wish list for Ashfield and Eastwood. Investment is coming, you have my word on that.'
Mr Anderson wrote on Facebook this evening: 'Isolating.
'On Friday I lost my sense of taste at the same time my wife had a bad headache. I had no cough, no fever and felt well. We both had a test on Saturday and the result came in Sunday morning.
'My wife and I both tested positive. I feel absolutely fine and my biggest concern is my wife who is in the shielded group. But we are both feeling good.'
Under Government guidelines, those who come in to contact with people who test positive must isolate for 14 days.
The Government's official website states a 'contact is a person who has been close to someone who has tested positive for Covid-19'.
Being 'close' to an infected person includes being within two metres from them for more than 15 minutes, having face-to-face contact of less than one metre, or being within one metre of someone for more than one minute without face-to-face contact.
Critics have questioned how the PM got to be in contact with an infected person - who was not in his own household - during the country's nation-wide second lockdown.
Labour MP Chris Bryant wrote on Twitter: 'I don't understand. I thought England was in lockdown. What was the PM doing not maintaining a social distance with another MP? Have I missed something?'
The Prime Minister was informed he had come into contact with an infected person via the NHS Test and Trace app.
A spokesperson for the PM said: 'The Prime Minister has today been notified by NHS Test and Trace that he is required to self-isolate as a contact of someone who has tested positive for Covid-19.
'The Prime Minister will follow the rules and is self-isolating.
'He will carry on working from Downing Street, including on leading the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
'The PM is well and does not have any symptoms of Covid-19.'
During an interview in May, the PM revealed just how serious his condition became following his positive diagnosis in April.
Doctors were prepared to announce his death in case he lost his coronavirus battle, the PM said, admitting he was 'a lucky man'.
Mr Johnson confirmed he was 'not in particularly brilliant shape' while battling the disease at St Thomas' Hospital in central London and he was given 'litres and litres' of oxygen as medics fought to keep him alive in intensive care.
He recalled his frustration that he could not seem to shake the virus and described how the sobering experience allowed him to see the 'fantastic' care offered by the NHS.
Boris Johnson speaks from self isolation on April 3 just days before he was taken to hospital
St Thomas's Hospital where Prime Minister Boris Johnson was kept overnight
Boris Johnson looking at a get well soon card sent by children when he was ill with coronavirus
'I realised it was getting pretty serious', he told the Sun on Sunday,
'And I remember saying to myself, ''How am I going to get out of this?'''
He added: 'To be honest, the doctors had all sorts of plans for what to do if things went badly wrong.
'I was not in particularly brilliant shape because the oxygen levels in my blood kept going down.
'But it was thanks to some wonderful, wonderful nursing that I made it. They really did it and they made a huge difference.'
The Prime Minister said staff nurse Luis Pitarma, 29, and ward sister Jenny McGee, 35, watched over him for 48 hours, giving him the vital care he needed.
In a video recorded shortly after he was discharged, Mr Johnson thanked the 'utterly brilliant' doctors, and praised the nurses for their 'astonishing' care.
Ward sister Jenny McGee, left, and staff nurse Luis Pitarma, right, were singled out for praise by Prime Minister Boris Johnson after treating him during his stay in intensive care
Mr Pitarma, from Aveiro, Portgual, circled in red, with colleagues. The nurse helped save Mr Johnson's life and was praised by Portugal's President
He said: 'I want to thank the many nurses, men and women, whose care has been so astonishing. I am going to forget some names, so forgive me, but I want to thank Po Ling and Shannon and Emily and Angel and Connie and Becky and Rachael and Nicky and Ann.'
Mr Johnson reserved special acclaim for two more, who he described as 'Jenny from New Zealand, Invercargill on the South Island to be exact, and Luis from Portugal, near Porto'.
He continued: 'The reason in the end my body did start to get enough oxygen was because for every second of the night they were watching and they were thinking and they were caring and making the interventions I needed.'
Ms McGee has been in the UK for eight years after studying here then moving to St Thomas' in central London.
She previously worked at the Royal Melbourne Hospital for six years where she did her intensive care training.
Mr Johnson's video message from inside no 10, after he was discharged from hospital
Mr Pitarma, 29, was born in Aveiro, just 30 miles from Porto, and is thought to have moved to London in 2014 after completing his medical qualifications in Lisbon.
The medic was thanked on Sunday by the President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in a telephone call.
A statement issued by the Portuguese president's office said: 'Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa would like to highlight the special recognition the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has given Portuguese nurse Luis Pitarma for his work and care during his time in intensive care.
'The President of the Republic has already personally transmitted his gratitude to the nurse Luis Pitarma and in his name, he also thanks the commitment of all Portuguese health professionals who in Portugal and around the world are providing decisive help in the fight to the pandemic.
'A word of encouragement that is also addressed to professionals of other nationalities who, reinforcing the National Health Service, provide an invaluable service to Portugal.'