Home Office Drinks Reception Attendees Told To Get PCRs After One Tests Positive For Covid
2 min read
Attendees at a Home Office reception, believed to include Home Secretary Priti Patel and numerous Conservative MPs, have been asked to take Covid-19 tests after someone who was there tested positive.
In an email sent to attendees today, seen by PoliticsHome, the Home Office says one person present has since tested positive for Covid-19 on a lateral flow test after attending the event on Tuesday evening.
The email asks those who attended to get PCR tests even if they have not developed symptoms of the illness.
Patel, her advisors, and a multiple of Tory MPs were in attendance, PoliticsHome understands.
Patel was in the House of Commons today for Prime Minister's Questions, where she was sat between Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid, and later for the vote on the Nationality & Borders Bill.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The event at the Home Office strictly followed Government guidance and the Home Office kept a record of those who attended.”
Under the government's current rules, which are set to be revised in the coming days with ministers expected to trigger plan B measures, anyone who comes into contact with someone who is infected with Covid does not need to self-isolate if they have had two doses of the vaccine.
However, this does not apply in the case of the new Omicron variant, in which case people must isolate for ten days plus the day they were last in contact with the infected person.
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
