Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus and people are making the same point about Princess Diana
Britain’s prime minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus. He lives with his pregnant fiancée, Carrie Symonds, 32. (TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)
Boris Johnson, prime minister of Britain, has tested positive for coronavirus and is suffering mild symptoms, the government said Friday morning.
He is the first leader of a major Western country known to have contracted the virus, and countless people are making the same point about the late Princess Diana in the midst of the announcement.
The premier cheerfully bragged at a March 3 press conference that he “shook the hands” of coronavirus patients at a hospital, an act that became a lightning rod of concern from health advocates and medical professionals.
As a result, some Twitter users have reflected this to how the royal famously visited a specialist HIV clinic in 1987 and shook hands with patients living with the virus without gloves.
A simple gesture that publicly challenged the toxic notion that HIV/AIDS was passed from person to person by touch.
Boris Johnson tests for coronavirus, Downing Street confirms.
“After experiencing mild symptoms yesterday, the prime minister was tested for coronavirus on the personal advice of England’s chief medical officer, professor Chris Whitty,” the government said in a statement.
“The test was carried out in Number 10 by National Health Service staff and the result of the test was positive.”
In keeping with government guidance, the prime minister is self-isolating in Downing Street.
Johnson later addressed his 1.8 million followers on Twitter stating that he will “continue to lead the government’s response via video-conference as we fight this virus.
Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus.
I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government’s response via video-conference as we fight this virus.
Together we will beat this. #StayHomeSaveLives pic.twitter.com/9Te6aFP0Ri
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) March 27, 2020
“Together we will beat this.”
It comes after the first secretary of state and former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab would take over prime ministerial duties by Downing Street if Johnson was taken ill.
‘He thought he was Princess Diana.’
As news of the premier being sickened by coronavirus radiated across Twitter, several users began to compare Johnson’s boast of shaking hands with patients to Diana’s visit to London Middlesex Hospital.
Being at the peak of the AIDS pandemic that paralysed the nation, the similarities to the COVID-19 outbreak, users said, were uncanny.
https://twitter.com/zoyoudidnt/status/1243500326054965260?s=21
https://twitter.com/reberosons/status/1243508484794208256
OMG #BorisJohnson has caught coronavirus because he carried on shaking hands with infected patients – did he think by doing so he would remove the stigma of #COVID19 the way the amazing #princessdiana did with aids patients? Tool— Kung Fu Panda (@mscng) March 27, 2020
https://twitter.com/ripmelanieowen/status/1243500910480932864?s=21
https://twitter.com/ursilaz/status/1243501007004368896?s=21
Princess Diana shook the hands of AIDS victims to bust myths but what did Boris Johnson have to prove?— David Boink (@DavidBoink) March 27, 2020
https://twitter.com/mmingina/status/1243500400105402368?s=21
https://twitter.com/shonfaye/status/1243498496243752960?s=21
https://twitter.com/z4r4hmaj/status/1243500702149808128?s=21
https://twitter.com/izzacca/status/1243503107545403399
Boris has corona and I’m pretty sure that he thought it was a bit like AIDS. ie. this is my Princess Diana moment when I can shake hands with patients.
He clearly hasn’t been taking it seriously.https://t.co/3ft121aLSG— Lord Paulie of Leytonstone 🇫🇷 (@skiologist) March 27, 2020
https://twitter.com/reberosons/status/1243508484794208256
What can I do to stop the spread of coronavirus?
In an effort to curb the climbing provirus caseload bearing down on the NHS, the government recommended that the non-key workers self-isolate at home – only leaving to shop for basic necessities, medical need or one form of exercise.
Wash your hands more often for 20 seconds with soap and water. Or use hand sanitiser.
— NHS (@NHSuk) March 4, 2020
Washing hands for with soap and water for 20 seconds, minimising contact with people and staying two meters apart from anyone outside of your household are also recommended, according to the NHS.
Princess Diana’s ex-husband, Prince Charles, has also tested positive coronavirus.
PinkNews wishes prime minister Boris Johnson a full recovery.
