MICHAEL Gove stifled a cough live on television this morning just days on from the coronavirus sweeping through the heart of Government.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster coughed throughout an appearance on BBC’s Andrew Marr show.
His actions sparked fears for his health in the same week Boris Johnson and the Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed they had the virus.
However, aides have now insisted he does not have a cough and was just clearing his throat.
One said: “He does not have symptoms”.
Both the Prime Minister and Mr Hancock revealed their diagnoses on Friday and announced that they would be self-isolating.
Johnson said: “I’m self-isolating and that’s entirely the right thing to do.”
He added that the “more effectively we all comply” with lockdown and self-isolation measures, the “faster we’ll bounce back”.
“Thank you to everybody who’s doing what I’m doing, working from home,” he said.
Hancock said he would be staying at home until next Thursday.
The cough came on a day Mr Gove revealed Britain had finally hit 10,000 coronavirus tests a day in its bid to beat the virus.
He said: “Well, we have been increasing the number of tests and I can confirm today that the number of tests being carried out is 10,000 now and we want to increase that – 10,000 a day – and we want to increase that to 25,000 a day.
“Just last week the Prime Minister authorised the new programme of testing so working with research institutes and also with companies like Boots, we are now in a position to be able to test more.”
Yesterday, the PM said the situation would “get worse before it gets better”.
In a letter being sent to households across the UK this week, the PM suggests the government will not hesitate to enforce further lockdown measures if needed.
His letter states: “It’s important for me to level with you — we know things will get worse before they get better.
“But we are making the right preparations, and the more we all follow the rules, the fewer lives will be lost and the sooner life can return to normal.”
He added: “We will not hesitate to go further if that is what the scientific and medical advice tells us we must do.”
