British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus and is self-isolating at his Downing Street residence but said he would still lead the government's response to the accelerating outbreak.
Johnson, 55, experienced mild symptoms on Thursday, a day after he answered at the prime minister's weekly question-and-answer session in parliament's House of Commons chamber, and received the positive test result at around midnight.
"I've taken a test. That has come out positive," Johnson said on Friday in a video statement broadcast on Twitter. "I've developed mild symptoms of the coronavirus. That's to say - a temperature and a persistent cough.
"So I am working from home. I'm self-isolating," Johnson said. "Be in no doubt that I can continue, thanks to the wizardry of modern technology, to communicate with all my top team to lead the national fightback against coronavirus."
British health minister Matt Hancock said later on Friday morning that he has also tested positive and is self-isolating at home with mild symptoms.
Johnson is the first leader of a major power to announce a positive test result for coronavirus. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went into isolation earlier this month after his wife tested positive for the virus.
U.S. President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have both been tested, so far with negative results.
Johnson chaired a government meeting on the coronavirus on Friday morning via teleconference.
"Coronavirus can and does affect anyone. Everyone be safe. Our own health depends on everybody else," said Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, in a message wishing Johnson a speedy recovery.
It was not immediately clear how many Downing Street staff and senior ministers would need to isolate themselves given that many have had contact with Johnson over recent days and weeks.
So far, there have been more than 11,600 confirmed cases of the illness in Britain. The country's death toll of 578 is the seventh highest in the world, after Italy, Spain, China, Iran, France and the United States, according to a Reuters tally.
After being criticised by some lawmakers, doctors and scientists for not adopting more stringent measures earlier to curb the spread of the illness, Johnson has increasingly become the face of Britain's response to the pandemic, which he has likened to fighting a war.
Britain is currently on lockdown, with schools closed to most pupils and people told to work from home where possible and venture out only for food shopping and exercise.
Johnson has chaired some of the government's daily press conferences, but will now have to step back, his spokesman said, repeating that Johnson, his team and ministers were all adhering to the guidelines set out by the National Health Service.