Dominic Cummings is the latest senior Downing Street figure to show symptoms of a coronavirus infection.
Sources there confirmed that Boris Johnson’s most senior adviser was self-isolating at home after developing symptoms at the weekend.
It is not known whether Mr Cummings has been tested for Covid-19. The prime minister tested positive on Thursday night and has been isolation in No 11 since then.
Matt Hancock is also infected and Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, is self-isolating with symptoms.
Mr Cummings’s suspected infection will renew concerns that social distancing was flouted in No 10 and at Westminster more generally.
The revelation came hours after the deputy chief medical adviser warned that life in Britain would not return to normal for six months.
Jenny Harries said that the strict social distancing rules in place at present would have to remain for between two and three months.
She warned that it would be a further three months before all the present restrictions were lifted, and even then there were likely to be “bumps” as new clusters of cases were identified.
“We must not suddenly revert to our normal way of living. That would be quite dangerous. If we stop them [the restrictions] all of our efforts will have been wasted and we could see a second peak,” she said.
“So over time, probably the next six months, we will see where we are going. We need to keep that lid on and then gradually we will be able to hopefully adjust some of the social distance measures and gradually get us all back to normal.”
