Boris Johnson to Self-Isolate, Reversing Plan to Enter N.H.S. Pilot Program The British prime minister and his top finance official were “pinged” by the health service’s test-and-trace app as contacts of the health minister, who has tested positive for the coronavirus.
By Mark Landler July 18, 2021 Updated 11:00 a.m. ET Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain and his top finance official, Rishi Sunak, will go into self-isolation on Sunday, only hours after Downing Street said that they would avoid a quarantine, following contact with a cabinet minister who tested positive for the coronavirus.
The abrupt reversal by Mr. Johnson and Mr. Sunak, Britain’s top two government officials, came after their plans to enter a special program that would have allowed them to keep working at the office set off a swift and ferocious backlash from critics, who accused them of a double standard.
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Sunak were notified, or “pinged,” by the National Health Service after face-to-face meetings with the health secretary, Sajid Javid, who said on Saturday that he had mild symptoms of Covid-19. They had initially planned to avoid the normal requirement to isolate themselves by taking part in an N.H.S. pilot program that would have subjected them to daily tests.
Critics pointed out that hundreds of thousands of ordinary Britons similarly pinged by the health service had been forced to quarantine for 10 days, suggesting that the program was a way for the elite to avoid that burden.
“Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have been busted yet again for thinking the rules that we are all following don’t apply to them,” the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, said in a statement.
“The public have done so much to stick to the rules,” Mr. Starmer added. “At a time when we need to maintain confidence in self-isolation, parents, workers and businesses will be wondering what on earth is going on in Downing Street.”
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
