Coronavirus: UK Health Minister Nadine Dorries Tests Positive for Virus

UK’s health minister Nadine Dorries has been diagnosed with coronavirus.

She showed symptoms on the day she attended an event with PM Boris Johnson.

Nadine Dorries, 62, said she has been self-isolating at home.

The Department of Health said the minister first showed symptoms on March 5 – the same day she attended an event hosted by the prime minister.

Six people with the virus have died in the UK, which has a total of 382 cases.

The latest person to die was a man in his early 80s who had underlying health conditions.

The Bank of England earlier announced an emergency cut in interest rates from 0.75% to 0.25% in response to the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak

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It is not known how many meetings Nadine Dorries had attended at Westminster or in her constituency in recent days, but she was at an event at Downing Street on March 5 to mark International Women’s Day.

She also held a surgery in her constituency on March 6 which was attended by up to 12 people, according to Steven Dixon, chair of the Mid Bedfordshire Conservative Association.

Steven Dixon said the details of all those who attended the surgery have been passed to the NHS.

The Flitwick Club, where the surgery took place, is undergoing a deep clean as a precaution.

The Department of Health said ministers – including the prime minister – would not need to undergo testing as Public Health England (PHE) has assessed the risk of Nadine Dorries’ close contacts and only those with symptoms needed to self-isolate.

Nadine Dorries added she was worried about her 84-year-old mother who was staying with her and began to cough on March 10.

The number of total cases for the UK include 324 cases in England, 27 in Scotland, 16 in Northern Ireland and 15 in Wales.

There are 91 in London, with the next highest infected area being the south-east, with 51 cases. The latest person to die, on March 9, was a man in his 80s, with underlying health conditions, who was being treated at Watford General Hospital.

The man caught the virus in the UK and officials are trying to trace who he had been in contact with.