BREAKING: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tests positive for Coronavirus [VIDEO]

The coronavirus outbreak has claimed the lives of more than 24,000 people around the world infecting more than half a million

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for the novel coronavirus or COVID-19. The British prime minister has mild symptoms of the deadly disease which has claimed the lives of over 24,000 people worldwide while affecting more than half a million.

 British counterpart Boris Johnson
British counterpart Boris Johnson IANS

As reported by Laura Kuenssberg of BBC, the 55-year-old will be self-isolating himself in Downing Street but will still be in charge of the government handling the current crisis in the nation.

A spokesperson from Downing Street stated that the prime minister experienced mild symptoms on Thursday which is a day after he was present at the prime minister's weekly question-and-answer session that took place in parliament's House of Commons chamber.

"The prime minister was tested for coronavirus on the personal advice of England's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty," the spokesperson said. "The test was carried out in No 10 by NHS staff and the result of the test was positive."

Currently, it is not clear how many staff and senior ministers need to be isolated now as many had come in contact with the prime minister in recent times. The government had earlier mentioned that Johnson had the option to assign Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab if required.

As of now the Unitewd Kingdom has reported over 11,800 cases and more than 550 deaths in the nation whereas complete lockdown in the country has been impose. The prime minister himself shared a video on Twitter and stated that he has been infected with the deadly virus and will be working from home from now onwards.

Related topics : Coronavirus
READ MORE