British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Reveals He Tested Positive for Coronavirus

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for the new coronavirus (COVID-19), he revealed on Twitter Friday morning. Johnson announced that after developing “mild symptoms,” including a temperature and persistent cough, he was tested for the virus that has become a global pandemic and received a positive result.

Johnson added he is currently self-isolating in response, but will continue to lead the government via video conference. “Together we will beat this,” he ended on a hopeful note. In an attached video, Johnson expounded on what lies ahead for him, as well as praising the “incredible response” of the British people who have reached out to volunteer and help people suffering from or at additional risk for contracting the virus.

“I am working from home, I am self-isolating, and that’s entirely the right thing to do,” he said in the video. “But be in no doubt that I can continue, thanks to the wizardry of technology, to communicate with all my top team to lead the national fight back against coronavirus.”

He added, “I want to thank everybody involved and, of course, our amazing NHS staff,” before also continuing to thank police officers, social workers, teachers and school staff for their work amid the pandemic.

“I want to thank everybody who is working to keep our country going amid this epidemic,” he reassured the public. “We will get through it, and the way we’re gonna get through it is of course by applying the measures that you have heard so much about.”

“The more effectively we all comply with those measures, the faster our country will come through this epidemic and the faster we’ll bounce back,” Johnson said.

There are more than 11,600 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.K. as of Friday, and 578 people have died.

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