Dido Harding could be made to self-isolate

Baroness Dido Harding, executive chairwoman of NHS Test and Trace, during a media briefing in Downing Street, London, on coronavirus (COVID-19). Photograph: PA. - Credit: PA

The MP husband of NHS Test and Trace chief Baroness Harding has been told to self-isolate over coronavirus, sparking concerns the chief could have to do so too.

Tory MP John Penrose was alerted by the NHS Covid-19 app, part of the operation overseen by his wife.

The Weston-super-Mare MP said on Twitter: “It never rains but it pours…. my NHS app has just gone off, telling me to self-isolate, which I’m doing.

“No symptoms so far *crosses fingers*”

Penrose denied that his wife would need to self-isolate because she had not received an alert.

Asked if he had spoken to his wife about it, he told the PA news agency: “We are trying to make sure we are doing it by the book, if I can put it that way.

“Her NHS app has not gone off, so it’s someone I have been in contact with rather than her.”

In response to a suggestion that it showed the system worked, he said: “I suppose it does.”