Boris Johnson faced questions after it was revealed that he did not self-isolate last December after having come in contact with positive Covid-19 cases.
According to sources, The Mirror has learned that Prime Minister Cameron was said to have been ‘close to’ a videographer during the official New Year’s message he sent on December 31, 2020. The video later proved to be positive.
The Downing Street aide, who was not wearing a mask, later informed officials and staff members who were present in the room and they were all asked to self-isolate for ten days – under the official guidance at the time.
But sources claim the Prime Minister did not have to seperate.
Boris Johnson faces questions following allegations that he did not self-isolate last January after coming in contact with positive Covid-19 cases.
Sources told The Mirror that the videographer was allegedly ‘face to face’ for approximately 15 minutes with the PM during the last year’s recording.
The pair was also said to be less than 2 metres apart.
Just days prior to the UK entering a third nationwide lockdown, the NHS was trying to manage a growing number of coronavirus infections.
According to a spokesperson for Downing Street, The Mirror was told by a Downing Street representative that the prime minister had been socially distant from the person who tested positive. The filming lasted less than fifteen minutes.
‘This has been reaffirmed by those present. He wasn’t advised to isolate because the rules weren’t requiring him to.
The latest claims come as the UK’s Covid-19 infections increased by 44.6 per cent in a week as Boris Johnson yesterday suggested NHS staff could be moved to plug shortages amid fears about the Omicron wave triggering a lockdown by default.
Department of Health bosses reported a further 157,758 cases today, a rise from the 109,077 cases which were reported in the country last Monday.
The number of people dying with the virus saw a 70.6 per cent decrease, Today, 42 UK-based deaths were reported today, as opposed to the 143 recorded on December 27, 2012.
It is now the thirteenth consecutive day when cases exceed 100,000 as the country emerges from the holiday season. This follows a week after the weekly increase of 72.5 percent on December 29.
In London, the hospitalization rate has dropped by 28%. 314 people were admitted on January 1st, which is a decrease of 28% from 437 last Monday.
This revelation comes just as PM reveals that the government will be redeploying employees after the public sector was told to expect a worst-case scenario where 25% of its staff, or around 1.4million people, would not work.
According to official statistics, one in ten NHS workers were absent on New Year’s Eve. However, only 50,000 of 110,000 employees had coronavirus.
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust declared an “incident critical” in connection to staff shortages that were “extremely and unprecedented”.
A third or more of the rail services were cancelled at stations recently, as staff members called in sick from illnesses such as Covid. However major engineering work on commuter routes is scheduled to continue through mid-week.
The UK’s councils are being forced to redistribute personnel between the essential services in order to maintain everything running.
Schools are being encouraged to prepare contingency plans for staff absenteeisms after the Christmas holiday.
Yesterday’s visit to Stoke Mandeville’s vaccination clinic saw Mr Johnson urge people to “stick to Plan B” and Omicron to be ‘plainly gentler’.
It would be foolish to think the pandemic has passed. He said that the government was examining what it could do to help people move into the areas most affected.
However, he vetoed calls for the self isolation period to be reduced to five days. He said that it could fuel spreading and make staff shortages even worse.
“I believe that the only way to move forward for our country is to keep on the current path.” The PM stated that everything would be reviewed.
“The combination of the things we are doing right now is the best one, according to me.”
‘So, number one, continue with Plan B, make sure that people take it seriously, do what we can to stop the spread, use the Plan B measures, work from home if you can, wear a mask on public transport… take a test before going out to meet people you don’t normally meet, think about the the requirements under Plan B, but also get the boost.’