Boris Johnson has admitted it took him “a while” to get round to taking a Covid test in March 2020 - before he went to the hospital and nearly died.
The Prime Minister, who has repeatedly been accused of being too relaxed in the early days of the virus, had to be advised to get a test by England’s Chief Medical Officer.
At the time, supplies of tests were scarce and most people with symptoms were unable to get one. But the PM was able to access tests in Downing Street.
Despite this, he said: “I was spluttering around a bit and they thought, you know, well what’s all this about?
“I certainly didn’t feel 100% and then, it was after I’d had it for a few days, and I went off and self-isolated.”
He added: “I think it was Chris Whitty after a while who said: ‘I think you probably ought to have a test’.”
He later nearly died in hospital, though he denied ever being put on a ventilator.
The Prime Minister spoke in an interview on GB News - bizarrely hosted by Tory MP married couple Philip Davies and Esther McVey.
Mr Johnson said “I do” agree with Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg that lockdown restrictions were “inhuman” adding: “It was just appalling”.
But he admitted “he can't rule out" another lockdown if a more deadly Covid variant emerges.
The Prime Minister insisted the virus was "losing its potency" - but said he wouldn't take "any options off the table”.
“I can't say we wouldn't be forced to do non-pharmaceutical interventions again of the kind we did,” he said.
"I think it would be irresponsible of any leader, in any democracy, to say they are going to rule out something that could save a life.”
One in 13 people in England had Covid last week - 4.1million - as the number of people in hospital with the virus hit the highest since January 2021, topping the Omicron wave.
But symptoms are generally less severe than in previous variants.
