Test for Brexit immunity? UK top negotiator self-isolates after EU counterpart tests positive for Covid-19

Britain’s chief Brexit negotiator, David Frost, has gone into self-isolation with Covid-19-like symptoms a day after his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, announced that he'd been diagnosed with coronavirus.

Frost hasn’t tested positive for Covid-19, but “he is following the guidance to self-isolate” in order to contain the spread of the disease, Downing Street said, adding that the 55-year-old was only showing “mild symptoms.”

Barnier announced that he was infected on Thursday and also went into quarantine. The 69-year-old Frenchman said in an online address that he was “in good spirits” and cheered other patients up, saying: “we will get through this together.”   

It’s not clear if one of the politicians was infected by the other; they last had a face-to-face meeting around two weeks ago.

Despite both UK and EU negotiators now finding themselves in isolation, London insists that the talks with Brussels won’t be affected. “We remain in contact with the European Commission and expect further conversations between the teams next week."

But the situation on the ground doesn’t support the optimism of the UK authorities, as the harsh measures implemented internationally to stop the virus from spreading severely complicate contacts between countries and people. On Thursday, a British government committee warned the public that social distancing may be required for “at least most of a year.”

Britain quit the EU on January 31 but has agreed a transition period until the end of 2020 so that London and Brussels could negotiate a new partnership deal. Even without the virus crisis, many suggest that that wasn’t enough time.

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