Dominic Cummings goes into self-isolation with coronavirus symptoms

Dominic Cummings has gone into self-isolation after developing coronavirus symptoms over the weekend, it was revealed today. 

The No10 chief has gone into quarantine just days after Boris Johnson tested positive for the disease. 

A Downing Street source said Mr Cummings remained ‘in contact’ with colleagues. 

The dramatic news comes after Mr Johnson rallied Britain for a long battle against coronavirus last night – contradicting his predecessor Margaret Thatcher by insisting the country is showing ‘there is such a thing as society’.

It will fuel fears that the disease is spreading like wildfire through the heart of government.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has also tested positive, while Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty and Scottish Secretary Alister Jack are also in isolation.  

MPs have warned that Westminster is a ‘hotbed’ of infection. The first politician confirmed as suffering from the virus was health minister Nadine Dorries, who has since recovered and returned to work.  

Mr Cummings was seen running out of Downing Street on Friday shortly before Mr Johnson’s diagnosis was confirmed.

However, he was not thought to have gone into isolation at that stage, and later returned to the building. 

There were glimmers of optimism today that the government’s extraordinary lockdown might be working. 

Leading epidemiologist Professor Neil Ferguson said there were ‘early signs’ that the spread of the life-threatening infection was being curbed by the draconian measure, with the rate of increase in hospital admissions easing.

But Professor Ferguson – one of the authors of a bleak Imperial College London report that convinced Downing Street to ramp up its efforts to stop the crisis after warning that 250,000 Brits could die under a controversial plan to build-up ‘herd immunity’ – warned deaths are still likely to rise sharply as they lag two or three weeks behind the new infections. 

He also suggested that up to three per cent of the UK – around two million people – might already have been infected, and said the figure could be as high as five per cent in London. 

A Nobel Prize-winning scientist from Stanford University today also claimed that the coronavirus outbreaks in New York City and Italy were burning out.

Professor Michael Levitt, who accurately predicted the demise of China’s crisis after analysing the raw data, added Spain’s outbreak also looks to be slowing – but added there ‘aren’t enough numbers’ to say the same for the UK.

In another note of caution, deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries warned that Britons should not expect a return to ‘normal life’ for six months, and possibly longer. 

In the two and a half minute video last night – posted from his bunker in 11 Downing Street – Mr Johnson thanked everyone who was contributing to the struggle. 

Sounding slightly croaky but defiant, the premier dropped in a reference to Mrs Thatcher’s 1987 comment in which she said there was ‘no such thing as society’.

The ex-PM’s line was widely taken as an endorsement of full-blown individualism – although she insisted she was merely criticising people who blamed ‘society’ for their own failings and lack of effort.  

Mr Johnson said: ‘We are going to do it, we are going to do it together. 

‘One thing I think the coronavirus crisis has already proved is that there really is such a thing as society.’

The intervention came as the UK coronavirus death toll rose by 209 in 24 hours from 1,019 to 1,228.