{"id":385465,"date":"2020-03-27T14:12:01","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T12:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=385465"},"modified":"2020-03-27T14:12:01","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T12:12:01","slug":"uk-prime-minister-boris-johnson-contracts-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/385465\/uk-prime-minister-boris-johnson-contracts-coronavirus\/","title":{"rendered":"UK prime minister Boris Johnson contracts coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>UK prime minister Boris Johnson has become the first world leader to say he has tested positive for coronavirus.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson is self-isolating in his Downing Street offices after a test on Thursday found he had the virus, the government said in an e-mail on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve developed mild symptoms of the coronavirus, that\u2019s to say a temperature and a persistent cough,\u201d Johnson said in a video posted on Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m working from home, I\u2019m self isolating, that\u2019s entirely the right thing to do. But, be in no doubt, I can continue, thanks to the wizardry of modern technology, to communicate with all my top team, to lead the national fightback against coronavirus.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus.<\/p>\n<p>I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government\u2019s response via video-conference as we fight this virus.<\/p>\n<p>Together we will beat this. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/StayHomeSaveLives?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#StayHomeSaveLives<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9Te6aFP0Ri\">pic.twitter.com\/9Te6aFP0Ri<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Boris Johnson #StayHomeSaveLives (@BorisJohnson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BorisJohnson\/status\/1243496858095411200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 27, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The pound erased its gains against the dollar after the announcement.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson is the latest high profile individual to contract the virus and comes after Prince Charles, the heir to the UK throne, also tested positive. Johnson was assessed by National Health Service staff on the advice of the chief medical officer Chris Whitty.<\/p>\n<p>Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State Dominic Raab would stand in for Johnson if the prime minister is unable to carry out his duties.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson ended his Twitter video by thanking the public services for their efforts and reiterated his optimism that the country will overcome the virus challenge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe more effectively we all comply with those measures, the faster our country will come through this epidemic and the faster we\u2019ll bounce back,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to beat it and we\u2019re going to beat it together. Stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/385305\/first-coronavirus-deaths-in-south-africa-as-confirmed-cases-go-over-1000\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">First coronavirus deaths in South Africa as confirmed cases go over 1,000<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UK prime minister Boris Johnson has become the first world leader to say he has tested positive for coronavirus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":385469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-385465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385465"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":385473,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385465\/revisions\/385473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}