Covid-19: Defence secretary and military heads self-isolate
- Published
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter, pictured last year
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and six senior military commanders are self-isolating after the head of the armed forces tested positive for Covid-19.
Mr Wallace and the heads of the Royal Navy, RAF and Strategic Command were contacted by the NHS Test and Trace app and told to stay at home for 10 days.
They had come into contact with Chief of Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter on Thursday.
Military business will be conducted remotely.
Gen Carter hosted a meeting at the Defence Academy at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire, last week.
It was attended by Mr Wallace, General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, who is head of the army and Admiral Sir Tim Fraser, vice-chief of the defence staff, as well as First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston and General Sir Patrick Sanders, who is commander of Strategic Command.
Gen Carleton-Smith and Gen Carter's deputy spent the weekend in quarantine while they await the result of PCR tests after attending the meeting, but they maintained a greater distance from the armed forces chief, .
Gen Carter reportedly tested positive on Friday after appearing at the Chalke Valley History Festival.
Social distancing measures were said to have been maintained during Thursday's meeting.
A Ministry of Defence statement said: "The Chief of the Defence Staff has tested positive during routine Covid-19 checks. Colleagues who were in a senior meeting with him last week, including the Secretary of State, are self-isolating in line with government guidelines."
The government did not offer an explanation as to why Mr Wallace is self-isolating rather than taking daily Covid-19 tests - as Michael Gove did earlier this month, when he was named as a contact of someone who contracted Covid.
It was explained at the time that the Cabinet Office minister was taking part in a pilot scheme designed to measure the effectiveness of daily testing, with the hopes that it might spare tens of thousands of Covid contacts the inconvenience of having to stay at home.
Under the trial, up to 40,000 Covid contacts in England will take daily lateral flow tests. Once they get a negative result each morning, they can go about their lives as normal.