TWO more government ministers were in self isolation tonight amid fears they may have caught coronavirus from Nadine Dorries.
A Cabinet minister – who HOAR has chosen not to name for family reasons – has been tested and will get the results tomorrow.
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Meanwhile Health Minister Edward Argar has also self isolated after having lunch with Ms Dorries last week.
He was seen coughing at the dispatch box in the Commons yesterday.
Hours later Ms Dorries, also a junior health minister, revealed she had tested positive for coronavirus and quarantined herself at home.
One of her staff also fell ill, raising fears of an outbreak in Parliament as officials tried to trace people she was in contact with.
At least six MPs are now thought to be in self-isolation, including Tory MP Charles Walker.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell has also revealed that she has been told to self isolate over after she met Ms Dorries.
Health secretary Matt Hancock said this evening he does not need to be tested for the virus and vowed Parliament will remain open through the crisis.
He said an emergency bill tomorrow will put forward drastic new measures after the number of cases in the UK rose to 460 with eight deaths.
Mr Hancock said: “The best way to beat it is for us to work together and we’ll do whatever it takes, we’ll give the NHS whatever it needs and we’ll do all that we can to keep people safe and get through this together as a Parliament and as a nation.”
Earlier the Chancellor promised billions to help Britain’s economy recover from the inevitable hit when workers go sick and business slows.
PM Boris Johnson will chair an emergency Cobra meeting tomorrow and is expected to announce Britain is moving to the second “delay” stage of the battle plan.
That could mean school closures, the axing of sports events and a ban on public gatherings.
It comes after the World Health Organisation declared the Covid-19 coronavirus is now officially a global pandemic.
