Ex-health secretary Jeremy Hunt test positive for coronavirus

Jeremy Hunt today revealed he has coronavirus and is isolating with ‘very mild’ symptoms.

The former health secretary said he was informed he had tested positive on Tuesday morning – just as his children were looking forward to going to school.

Writing in his local paper, the Haslemere Herald, Mr Hunt said he had been preparing to chair a health select committee hearing with NHS England chief Sir Simon Stevens when he received the call.

However, he was able to continue with the session because he has not currently been badly affected. 

Mr Hunt, who has three children with wife Lucia, wrote: ‘The Hunt children had been jumping up and down with the excitement of going back to school with uniforms prepared and satchels packed when the totally unexpected happened… Dad got Covid.

‘Having ducked the cursed virus for over a year, the dreaded news came through from NHS Test and Trace on Tuesday morning.

‘Ironically, it happened to be half-an-hour before chairing a Select Committee at which Sir Simon Stevens was the guest witness, something I was able to do because my symptoms remain very mild.’

The Surrey MP said his PCR test was ‘conducted smoothly’ in Onslow and praised the ‘relaxed friendliness of the staff doing what cannot be a very appealing job’.

‘The result came through in less than 24 hours, and all the people I have spoken to on the phone about the self-isolation requirements were clear, kind and helpful,’ he went on. 

Mr Hunt said that despite his strong criticism of the Test and Test system they were ‘diligent’ in contacting him.  

‘As someone who has complained loudly in the past about failings with NHS Test and Trace, I was amused to see my phone buzzing throughout the morning as they tried to get in touch with me with great diligence,’ he wrote.

‘In fact, the success of Test and Trace is something that should be more talked about alongside the better-known achievements of the vaccine programme.

‘Indeed, from my experience, it has become a model of efficiency.

‘That is not to say there are not improvements that still need to be made – I am still concerned that too many people may not be complying with requests to self-isolate.

‘I also think that if we were to start all over again, we would organise the contact tracing through local authorities (although it makes sense to have a few mega labs to do the testing).’

Mr Hunt said the family was managing isolation ‘thanks to iPads, board games, Netflix and the great kindness of our neighbours’.