UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock is self-isolating after coming into “close contact” with someone who tested positive for Covid-19, he said in a video on Twitter on Tuesday.
“Last night I was pinged by the NHS (National Health Service) coronavirus app so that means I’ll be self-isolating at home, not leaving the house at all until Sunday,” Hancock said.
Hancock said he will “work from home for the next six days.”
Self-isolation is perhaps the most important part of all the social distancing, because I know from the app that I’ve been in close contact with someone who’s tested positive and this is how we break the chains of transmission, so you must follow these rules, like I’m going to,” he continued.
“We all have a part to play in getting this virus under control,” Hancock stressed.
The minister was criticized by some British media over the weekend after he was pictured in a crowded London park.
Under the UK’s current lockdown rules, people are allowed out to exercise, but on Friday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people to “think twice before leaving the house this weekend and only do so if it is absolutely necessary.”
Hancock tested positive for Covid-19 in March 2020, when Boris Johnson also caught the virus.