The Fifth Day: 27 March 2020

The Fifth Day: 27 March 2020 (14,543 confirmed infected, 759 died, in total)

"I developed mild symptoms of the coronavirus." – Boris Johnson

Two most eminent men in the UK have now declared their contraction with the coronavirus: after Prince Charles became a “confirmed case” the day before yesterday, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his “positive” result today, too. He did that through a video statement, from which it can be seen that he looked generally well. But He said that he had a temperature and a persistent cough, so he took the test and found himself positive.

Along with him, the Health Secretary Matt Hancock was also tested positive. They had to undertake several days’ isolation and work from home, before returning to normal work. As a result, in today’s daily briefing conference about the coronavirus, the team of officials standing behind the “Stay home”, “Protect the NHS”, “Save lives” plates (which were put up when the Prime Minister began to persuade people to stay at home) were changed, too.

After this breaking news occupied the headlines of all websites and newspapers, I heard doubts from both Chinese and Briton communities: if the crown prince, head of government and man-in-charge of national health cannot even protect themselves, how can they protect the nationals? Well, although we know the forgoing question lacks logical rigour, it does reflect that the situation in the UK is more severe than most people thought, and this country seems still not so ready for the battle with this virus.

Next chapter