The leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party said he is self-isolating for the third time after coming into contact with someone who later tested positive for the CCP virus.
Keir Starmer said on Monday he had been notified that he had to self-isolate as a result of the contact.
“I have no symptoms and will be working from home until next Monday,” he wrote on Twitter.
This is the third time Starmer has been forced into self-isolation.
In December, he self-isolated after one of his staff members tested positive for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.
On Sept. 14, the Labour Party said Starmer was self-isolating after one of his family members showed “possible symptoms” of COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus. But he came out of self-isolation just two days later after the family member with the symptoms tested negative.
Last week, Health Secretary Matt Hancock also had to self-isolate after he received a warning from the National Health Service’s (NHS) official COVID-19 tracing app that he might have been in contact with someone who tested positive.
Matt Hancock, Britain's Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, arrives at Downing Street in central London, on Dec. 10, 2020. Simon Dawson/Reuters
Hancock tested positive for the virus last March at the beginning of the pandemic and developed mild symptoms at the time.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson was also forced to self-isolate in November after attending a 35-minute meeting that was also attended by Lee Anderson, MP for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, who later tested positive.
Johnson later tested negative for the virus, but finished the two-week self-isolation according to government guidance.
That was Johnson’s second brush with the virus. He tested positive for the virus last April and was taken to St Thomas’s Hospital in central London, where he spent three days in intensive care.
Three members of Parliament from the Labour Party are also known to have received hospital treatment for the CCP virus.
Last week, the House of Commons Commission “strongly encouraged” lawmakers and parliamentary staff to wear face coverings inside the House of Commons chamber to reduce the chance of infections.
Mary Clark contributed to this report.
