Boris Johnson has been contacted by NHS Test and Trace as a contact of someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 but will not be self-isolating, Downing Street has said.
Instead, the Prime Minister will be taking part in a daily contact testing pilot which allows him to continue to work from Downing Street.
The announcement follows the disclosure on Saturday that Health secretary Sajid Javid had been confirmed as testing positive for the virus.
The Prime Minister is reported to have had a lengthy meeting with Javid at No 10 on Friday.
Chancelllor Rishi Sunak has also been contacted by Test and Trace and will also be taking part in the contact testing pilot.
A No 10 spokesman said: “They will be conducting only essential government business during this period.”
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has criticised the Government after the announcement.
She wrote on Twitter: “Sorry for the unparliamentary language but this just takes the p***.
“Not following the rules that they created and which they expect my constituents to follow.
“This Government treats the public with contempt and think they are above the law and that the rules don’t apply to them.”
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said many people across the UK would be dismayed by the “special, exclusive rule”.
“There will be parents across the country who have struggled this year when their children have been sent home because they were in a bubble and had to self-isolate,” he told Sky News.
“There will be workers across the country that have to isolate because they’ve been pinged, including in public services, including the NHS.
“For many of them, waking up this morning to hear that there is a special rule, an exclusive rule, for Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, they will be saying that this looks like one rule for them and something else for the rest of us.”
He continued: “Nobody understands how you can get access to this special treatment or VIP lane where you don’t have to isolate yourself.
“If it is a pilot, why can’t employers apply for their workforce to be part of this pilot, why can’t schools apply to be part of this pilot test?
“I do think a lot of people are going to be looking at this and thinking ‘what on earth is going on?’”
Ashworth added: “This is at a time when we need to maintain confidence in the isolation policies, because isolation, taking yourself away from society if you’ve been in contact with someone who’s got the virus, is one of the key ways we break transmission and, of course, we know infections are rising.”
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