EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier tests positive for coronavirus

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has tested positive for coronavirus, he said in a tweet on Thursday, he is “doing well and in good spirits.”

The Brexit negotiations between the EU and UK have now been thrown into doubt after Barnier’s diagnoses.

He said on Twitter,”I would like to inform you that I have tested positive for #COVID19.

“I am doing well and in good spirits. I am following all the necessary instructions, as is my team.

“For all those affected already, and for all those currently in isolation, we will get through this together.”

The British Army has placed 20,000 troops on standby and are ready to be mobilised across London and the UK to help tackle the coronavirus outbreak.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) have said, some 10,000 troops are being held in “higher readiness” ready for civil emergency, which could double to support public services.

Tank drivers will supply vital oxygen supplies, and will assist the NHS, the MoD said on Wednesday evening.

Is coronavirus the new deadly ‘disease X’? In February 2017 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a placeholder adopted name for any new unknown pathogen that could cause disease and a potential epidemic in the future.

The WHO called this “disease X” and was added to the list of blueprint priority diseases as a “known unknown” in 2018.

Coronavirus now officially called Covid-19 has already morphed from a mild to a deadly virus and is fast becoming a possible contender for “disease X.”