Alok Sharma, the business secretary, spent 45 minutes with Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak in a meeting in No 10 the day before he fell ill with suspected coronavirus, raising the prospect they might have to self-isolate for two weeks.
Sharma has not had his test result back but he started feeling unwell at the House of Commons dispatch box on Wednesday afternoon and he has since gone into a 14-day isolation period.
People over 60 or with health issues should wear a medical-grade mask when they are out and cannot socially distance, according to new guidance from the World Health Organization, while all others should wear a three-layer fabric mask.
The WHO guidance, announced on 5 June, is a result of research commissioned by the organisation. It is still unknown whether the wearers of masks are protected, say its experts, but the new design it advocates does give protection to other people if properly used.
The WHO says masks should be made of three layers – with cotton closest to the face, followed by a polypropylene layer and then a synthetic layer that is fluid-resistant. These are no substitute for physical distancing and hand hygiene, it says, but should be worn in situations where distancing is difficult, such as on public transport and at mass demonstrations.
The WHO has been reluctant to commit to recommending face coverings, firstly because the evidence on whether they offer any protection to the public is limited and – more importantly – because it was afraid it would lead to shortages of medical-grade masks for health workers.
Sarah Boseley Health editor
Downing Street said Sharma was in a face-to-face meeting with the prime minister and chancellor about the economy before cabinet on Tuesday morning. The cabinet room has been deep-cleaned.
Johnson’s official spokesman said the men were physically distanced, sitting at least 2 metres apart at all times, but did not wear face masks during the meeting.
He refused to say explicitly that Johnson would re-enter self-isolation if the business secretary had a positive result, and Johnson was asked to by the new test and trace service. He said only that the prime minister would “follow medical advice”.
Johnson has already had coronavirus but the guidelines for test and trace state that people have to self-isolate for 14 days if they have had contact with someone who has tested positive, regardless of whether they have been ill before or not.
The prime minister and chancellor may be able to avoid that outcome if the ministers are adamant that they were at least 2 metres apart at all times, but a refusal to do so could also undermine trust in the system.
The No 10 spokesman could not say whether Sharma’s test result would be returned on Thursday. The test and trace system only kicks in to find contacts of someone who is ill when a positive outcome is recorded.
Whether or not Sharma tests positive, his suspected illness is likely to cause concern about the government’s decision to bring back parliament in its physical form, after weeks of allowing MPs to attend remotely via video link.
Many MPs have protested against the new arrangements, which have resulted in them queuing around the parliamentary estate while complying with the physical distancing rules in order to vote.
During the debate, after Sharma was seen wiping his face with a handkerchief several times, his Labour shadow, Ed Miliband, passed him a glass of water. Sharma also appeared sweaty and sounded hoarse on Tuesday, according to one fellow MP, when he voted to abolish hybrid parliamentary measures.
During one vote, the minister voted straight after the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, and immediately before the Labour MP Stephen Kinnock.
In another vote on the substantive motion, Sharma queued to vote immediately after Saqib Bhatti, the Conservative MP for Meriden, and just before Paul Scully, a Tory business minister.
Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, said the development was “just awful”, adding: “The government stopped MPs from working from home and asked us to return to a building where social distancing is impossible. MPs are travelling home to every part of the country tonight. Reckless doesn’t even begin to describe it.”
Digital voting in the Commons was ended on Tuesday after MPs approved a government motion introduced by the leader of the house, Jacob Rees-Mogg, despite widespread objections.
The Labour MP Karl Turner said he had asked the Health and Safety Executive to conduct an urgent risk assessment of working conditions in parliament.
He said MPs having to “huddle together” on escalators on the parliamentary estate while lining up to vote were among a number of “unsafe practices”.
A string of cabinet ministers and senior officials have come down with coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, including Johnson, who was treated in intensive care.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, Chris Whitty, the chief medical adviser, Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, Dominic Cummings, the senior No 10 adviser, and Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, were also all unwell with coronavirus in late March or early April.
The first MP to fall ill with the virus was Nadine Dorries, a health minister, who tested positive in March.
A House of Commons spokesperson said: “The house’s priority is to ensure that those on the estate are safe while business is facilitated. We have closely followed guidance from PHE on action to take following a suspected case of Covid on site, including additional cleaning. Our risk assessment outlines the measures we have already put in place to reduce the risk of transmission in parliament.”
