London
CNN
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson He continued to tour Scotland after a member of his team tested positive for Covid-19, and decided not to isolate himself even as others had done on the trip.
Downing Street sources have confirmed that an employee has tested positive and is following “proper guidance” but insisted that the trip, which ended on Thursday, Fully compliant with Covid directives. Downing Street said the prime minister “has not been in close contact with anyone who has tested positive for the virus.”
However, a source familiar with the trip told CNN that the person in question was with the prime minister for most of Wednesday in Glasgow, before boarding the plane to continue the tour in Aberdeen. The source added that the person was examined upon arrival in Aberdeen. Later, the employee who tested positive and some other members of his entourage were isolated.
A Downing Street spokesperson told CNN that the prime minister “regularly visits communities across the UK and all aspects of the visits are being implemented in accordance with Covid guidelines.”
According to the Scottish government, Which sets its own rules on health care separately from England, Wales and Northern Ireland, close contacts of anyone who has tested positive for Covid-19 will have to self-isolate “for 10 days from the onset of symptoms in the person showing symptoms ”. ”.
Close contact is defined as “a person who has been physically close enough to a confirmed case for a long enough period of time, to whom the virus may have been transmitted”.
Covid guidelines applicable in England, Specified by the Johnson government, it says that “a person can also be in close contact if they travel in the same car or plane as the person who tested positive for COVID-19.”
However, the guidelines also warn that in an aircraft, the “The risk of transmission is minimal at two meters”, Which is easier to accomplish in a large plane than in a car, meaning that even on the plane Johnson may not have gotten within six feet of the person who tested positive for the virus.
It is unclear what criteria were applied to the officials who were asked to isolate themselves. When asked why Johnson was not isolating himself, a Downing Street source said the prime minister had “pre-tested to travel to Scotland and had another PCR test” before visiting an offshore wind farm. on the last day of your trip.
James Glosop / Paul / AFP / Getty Images
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he meets officers during a visit to the Scottish Police College in Tullyalan, near Kincardine, Scotland, on August 4, 2021.
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Johnson may not have been in close contact with the employee who tested positive, as precisely defined in the guidelines. But in the past, the government has been criticized for not adhering to the general rules it sets.
Johnson’s visit was part of his long-term goal to show his personal support for Scotland’s survival in the UK and to fight the undercurrent in support of Scottish independence.
While Scots voted 55% to stay in the UK in 2014, Brexit and the pandemic have bolstered support for a new referendum.
In the 2016 Brexit referendum, 62% of Scottish voters supported staying in the EU. In the following years, Scottish nationalists built the argument that Scotland left the European Union against its will because of voters in England. Johnson led the UK’s campaign to leave the European Union in 2016.
Despite Johnson’s avowed affection for Scotland and his self-proclaimed role as Union Minister, he is a divisive figure in Scotland. Unionists wondered if he was the best person to advocate for Scotland to remain in the UK.
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