Coronavirus: How Boris Johnson ignored health advice at his peril before Covid-19 diagnosis

Prime minister and health secretary test positive for virus on same day

Boris Johnson said three weeks before his Covid-19 diagnosis that he was "shaking hands with everybody," including coronavirus patients, and would continue to do so — despite scientific advice warning against the greeting.

The prime minister tested positive for the virus on Friday as the latest UK politician to contract Covid-19, along with health secretary Matt Hancock.

In the early days of March, Mr Johnson appeared to have a casual attitude towards the virus as European leaders began warning their citizens to stop unnecessary social contact when greeting people.

At a press conference on 3 March - when the UK had less than 100 cases - he told reporters he was still shaking hands and insisted washing your hands was the “crucial thing” to avoid contracting the virus.

“I was at a hospital the other night where I think there were actually a few coronavirus patients and I shook hands with everybody, you’ll be pleased to know, and I continue to shake hands,” Mr Johnson said.

Mr Hancock also said the impact of shaking hands was “negligible” and argued it was okay to shake someone’s hand so long as you washed your hands “more often”.

However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has asked people to “avoid shaking hands” to protect themselves and others from Covid-19.

“Respiratory viruses can be passed by shaking hands and touching your eyes, nose and/or mouth,” the organisation said.

Although the prime minister’s hospital visit was too long ago for it to have caused his infection, Mr Johnson seemed to be struggling to remember to avoid handshakes days later.

At a Commonwealth Day service on 9 March, he was filmed attempting to shake hands with a bishop at Westminster Abbey before stopping himself after remembering health advice.

When reporters asked the prime minister about the ban on handshakes at the event, he suggested the measure was helpful for giving a “subliminal cue” to people to wash their hands.

“'We were all given an instruction not to shake hands and there is a good reason for not shaking hands, which is that the behavioural psychologists say that if you don't shake somebody's hand that sends an important message to them about the importance of washing your hands,” Mr Johnson said.

Even as recently as Wednesday, Mr Johnson and other ministers could be seen sat closely together on the government's front bench in parliament and failing to follow advice to stay 2 metres away from other people to avoid catching Covid-19.

The prime minister was also criticised last week for suggesting he would go see his mother on Mother’s Day before admitting two days later that it was actually important for people to stay away to reduce the risk of passing on the virus.

Carrie Symonds, Mr Johnson’s pregnant fiancee, who is expecting the couple’s baby in early summer, will not be staying with him while he self-isolates for seven days.

“The prime minister of course follows all of the guidelines which have been issued by Public Health England in full,” the PM’s official spokesperson said, when asked whether Ms Symonds would also be living in the flat above Number 11 with Mr Johnson.

“His circumstance is such that he will be required to self-isolate for seven days.”

Pregnant women do not appear to be more likely to contract coronavirus than the general population, but pregnancy itself alters the body’s immune system and its response to viral infections in general.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has said pregnant women “should pay particular attention to avoiding contact with people who are known to have Covid-19 or those who exhibit possible symptoms”, even though the risks appear to be small overall.

The RCOG added: “Women above 28 weeks' gestation should be particularly attentive to social distancing and minimising contact with others.”

In response to Mr Johnson’s coronavirus diagnosis, Professor Jonathan Ball, a professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham, said: “A virus does not respect authority or position. From lowly virologists to powerful prime ministers, all of us are susceptible to infection.

“This news highlights just how easy it is for this virus to pass under the radar and spread through our communities.”

Additional reporting by PA