Boris Johnson NOT out of coronavirus self-isolation today: PM has persistent high temperature 

Boris Johnson is to remain in self-isolation after failing to fully recover from coronavirus, he revealed today.

The Prime Minister was due to exit quarantine in Downing Street today, seven days after testing positive.

But in a video message today he confirmed that he continues to have a high temperature and will therefore remain in isolation. 

‘Although I’m feeling better, and I’ve done my seven days of isolation, alas I still have one of the symptoms, a minor symptom – I still have a temperature,’ he revealed.

‘So in accordance with Government advice I must continue my self-isolation until that symptom itself goes.’

He appeared at the door of No 11 Downing Street, where he lives, to join in the mass clapping for key workers at 8pm last night. 

Mr Johnson also urged people today to stick to the regulations over the weekend and not to be tempted by the forecast of good weather.

He said: ‘I reckon a lot of people will be starting to think that this is all going on for quite a long time and would rather be getting out there, particularly if you’ve got kids in the household, everybody may be getting a bit stir crazy, and there may be just a temptation to get out there, hang out and start to break the regulations.

‘I just urge you not to do that. Please, please stick with the guidance now. 

‘This country has made a huge effort, a huge sacrifice, done absolutely brilliantly well in delaying the spread of the virus.

‘Let’s stick with it now – remember that incredible clapping again last night for our fantastic NHS. We’re doing it to protect them and to save lives.’

Mr Johnson went into isolation last Friday but has continued to work while being kept apart from his staff, other ministers and also his pregnant fiancee, Carrie Symonds.

His official spokesman told reporters today: ‘He does continue to have mild symptoms, in particular a high temperature.

‘The guidance is clear that if you still have a high temperature you should keep self isolating until it returns to normal.’

It came as Matt Hancock, who has recovered, described the illness as feeling as if you had’ razors in your throat’.

The Health Secretary this morning told of his concerns at how serious things might get when he was struck down by coronavirus, describing how he lost half a stone during the illness.

He branded the disease ‘indiscriminate’ and said it had left him unable to eat or drink for a few days and he had been unable to sleep.

Mr Hancock, who said he had begun to go ‘downhill’ on March 26, claimed the worst part had been not knowing how bad things might get.

He told BBC Breakfast: ‘When you’re on the way down it’s really worrying because we can all see just how serious this illness is.

‘And, for some people, the people who often get into the worst of health and those who lose their lives, it’s often because the lungs over-react to the virus, there’s an immune response. And you just don’t know if that’s going to happen, so I found it really worrying.’

Having addressed the daily Downing Street press conference on Thursday as his first public appearance back at work, he did a round of media interviews on Friday morning.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain, he said: ‘I had two days or so when it was like just razors in your throat, a very, very sore throat. I couldn’t eat and I couldn’t drink.

‘The worst bit was on the way down, worrying how bad it would get because we’ve all seen how bad it can get and it seems to be indiscriminate.’ 

Gary Lineker blasts Matt Hancock demand for Premier League footballers to rush into coronavirus pay cuts as Gary Neville says Health Secretary has ‘a f***ing cheek’

Gary Lineker today defended footballers who have not taken a pay cut during the coronavirus crisis after Matt Hancock urged them to support club staff who are being furloughed at the taxpayers’ expense. 

The Match of the Day host, who will donate two months of his £1.75million BBC salary to the British Red Cross, believes that Premier League stars should not be vilified yet saying: ‘I think a lot of footballers will do something’. 

Many football fans are irate and have accused millionaire star players of ‘living in a bubble’ while club staff who serve them through the season are being put out of work while football is cancelled due to coronavirus.

Today MailOnline revealed Manchester United players became the first Premier League stars to slash their pay and they will donate millions to the NHS after agreeing a 30 per cent cut this month – but there is still no collective deal with the PFA with all 20 clubs. 

Spurs, whose owner Joe Lewis is worth £4.5billion and pays most players between £70,000 and £200,000-a-week, has furloughed non-playing staff along with Premier League rivals Newcastle, Norwich and Bournemouth.  Shop workers, security staff, cleaners and catering staff will now be paid 80 per cent of their salary up to £2,500-a-month by the taxpayer when club stars remain on multi-million pound salaries.

Mr Lineker said: ‘It’s now up to the players how to respond. Let’s give them a chance to respond before this hugely judgemental pile-on that we always get nowadays. My inkling is that footballers will take pay cuts. I think we need to be a little bit patient with them.’ 

The former England striker spoke out after Gary Neville accused Matt Hancock of having a ‘f***ing cheek’ after the Health Secretary said Premier League footballers should give up some of their pay packets, when the Government can’t organise testing for NHS staff. Mr Lineker later shared the tweet saying: ‘Abso-bl**dy-lutely’.

Joey Barton also tweeted a defence of players today and said: ‘Herd Immunity? Boris and his cronies? NHS under funded and mismanaged for decades? That’ll be the Premier League footballers fault. Wake up! This is about shifting the focus away from the government handling this pandemic horrendously’. 

Former Premier League player David Cotterill wrote: ‘2.5 million millionaires in the UK! ‘512 players in the Premier League! YOU all want footballers to donate or take pay cuts during this? I agree. But there’s a lot more rich people out there. Soon as anything happens footballers become instant targets’.

But Tottenham’s Labour MP David Lammy sided with Mr Hancock and said: ‘It’s criminal that Premier League footballers haven’t moved more quickly to take pay cuts and deferrals. And completely wrong that taxpayers are now being asked to subsidise cleaners, caterers and security guards at these clubs instead’.

The Premier League is trying to agree a deal with players’ union, the Professional Footballers’ Association, whose chief executive Gordon Taylor insists top-flight players should would not take pay cuts to ease the financial pressure on clubs caused by the coronavirus crisis.

A three-month deferral of pay for players is being mooted if the season has not resumed by the middle of the summer – but the PFA is clear they would not accept wage cuts for their members saying it would ‘only serve shareholders’ interests’.

The Premier League is meeting today to discuss players’ pay and ways to finish the current season safely as it was claimed one top club has suggested moving the games to China or another country where the coronavirus peak has passed.

Brighton’s chief executive Paul Barber has taken a pay cut along with manager Graham Potter for the next three months – but claimed today that because players are ‘assets on a balance sheet’ rather than employees, it is difficult to change their contracts and force them to cut their pay. 

Although no Premier League footballer appears to have taken a pay cut, Wilfriend Zaha has offered NHS workers free accommodation to help ease the strain caused by the Coronavirus crisis on London’s hospital workers.

Manchester Uniter’s Marcus Rashford has teamed up with FareShare, a food distribution charity, after schools in the Manchester area were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, raising £134,000 for meals.

Liverpool FC star and Scotland captain Andy Robertson has given his backing to a charity supporting elderly people during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The footballer said he wants people to know Age Scotland, which has experienced a tenfold increase in calls during the coronavirus outbreak, is there for them.

Matt Hancock said yesterday that top-flight footballers needed to ‘make a contribution and take a pay cut,’ with many clubs facing financial difficulties due to matches being suspended, saying the stars  must: ‘Take a pay cut, play your part’. 

He said that ‘given NHS staff making the ultimate sacrifice getting into work and have caught the diseases and sadly died, I think the first thing Premier League footballers can do is make a contribution’. 

However, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville said his statement was ‘a f***ing cheek, adding: ‘I wish I was a player for 10 more mins. The PL players are more than likely working on a proposal to help clubs, communities and the NHS. It takes longer than 2 weeks to put together. 

‘Matt Hancock calling them out when he can’t get tests in place for NHS staff is a f@@@@@g cheek!’

Piers Morgan also piled in last night and said: ‘Will Mr Hancock & his cabinet colleagues also be taking a pay cut – or is the intention here just to shame footballers who haven’t said they won’t?’

Brighton’s chief executive Paul Barber told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning: ‘Players have very different contracts to ordinary working people. The players are sort of assets on our balance sheet, so it’s a lot more complex to move to changes in the contract.

‘Talks are going on between the leagues and the unions at the moment and we’re hoping to hear something over the next day or two on that particular topic.’

Questioned over footballers living on smaller wages, Mr Barber added: ‘I think we can totally understand the public’s perception at the moment.

‘The whole country is suffering. Everybody is in a very difficult position. People are losing their jobs, worse still people are losing their lives, so we totally understand the perception.

‘I think individually players are good people, they do lots of good things. Many of our players have already made private donations to support various charities in our particular city.

‘I think most players are waiting on the union to come up with a formula or a strategy to help them work with their clubs through this crisis.’ 

Gary Lineker has said that players should be given a chance to support non-playing staff before a ‘judgemental pile-on’ begins. 

Lineker told BBC Radio 4’s ‘World at One’: ‘The way Tottenham have handled it I don’t think has been very good – what they are doing to their staff I don’t agree with whatsoever.

‘But that is a separate issue to what the players do. It’s the club that has said that the players are going to carry on with their wages, but let’s see how the players react to it.’ 

In a strongly-worded statement that followed lengthy talks with the Premier League, EFL and League Managers Association that broke up without agreement, the PFA also criticised big clubs such as Tottenham and Newcastle, who have taken advantage of the government’s job retention scheme to furlough non-playing staff at the expense of the tax payer.

The Premier League and EFL had spent the afternoon attempting to persuade the PFA to endorse a universal financial settlement package for players involving deferrals and potentially cuts ahead of today’s crucial conference call of the 20 top-flight clubs, who had hoped to rubberstamp that agreement. 

Sportsmail has learnt that the proposal put to the PFA involved players accepting a deferral of a fixed percentage of their salary for three months followed by a cut if football has not resumed by the middle of the summer.

The PFA have not ruled out advising players to accept deferrals, although the percentage has yet to be agreed with the figures mooted by both sides ranging from between 25 and 50 per cent, but made it clear they would not accept wage cuts. 

In an incendiary statement released less than an hour after health secretary Matt Hancock had called on players to ‘take a pay cut and play their part’ the PFA dismissed that suggestion out of hand. 

‘Each club’s financial standing will vary,’ the statement read. ‘We are aware of the public sentiment that the players should pay non-playing staff’s salaries. However, our current position is that – as businesses – if clubs can afford to pay their players and staff, they should.’

Taylor is the highest-paid union official in the country with a salary of £2.2million and has developed a reputation as a hard-nosed negotiator, which he has had no qualms about displaying despite the country facing a national emergency and unprecedented public health crisis. In addition to refusing to bow to the increasing public pressure for pay cuts the PFA also accused clubs who have furloughed staff of damaging society simply to protect the wealth of their shareholders.

‘The players we have spoken recognise that the non-playing staff are a vital part of their club and they do not want to see club staff furloughed unfairly,’ the statement read. ‘Any use of the government’s support schemes without genuine financial need is detrimental to the wider society. In instances where clubs have the resources to pay all staff, the benefit of players paying non-playing staff salaries will only serve the business of the club’s shareholders.’

The PFA’s statement followed a day of mounting political pressure, which culminated in Hancock using part of the government’s daily press briefing to publicly call players to take a pay cut.

‘Given the sacrifices that many people are making, including some of my colleagues in the NHS, who have made the ultimate sacrifice getting into work and have caught the diseases and sadly died, I think the first thing Premier League footballers can do is make a contribution, take a pay cut and play their part,’ he said.

Earlier in the day the chair of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport select committee, Julian Knight, called on the government to impose a windfall tax on clubs who refused to cut wages.

‘We are facing an obscene situation where top players who aren’t working are continuing to see hundreds of thousands of pounds roll in each week while the staff who keep the clubs going are losing wages,’ ‘Knight said. ‘If the Premier League isn’t going to act to resolve this crisis then the government must step in by imposing a significant financial penalty on clubs to reimburse those hit hardest in the pocket. That’s why I have written to Chancellor Rishi Sunak today demanding that Premier League clubs do the right thing by Tuesday next week or face the consequences.’

Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust has called on Levy to make a bigger financial contribution to help the club cover non-playing staff’s wages.

It said in a statement: ‘We are aware that no football club can impose contract changes on its playing or coaching staff without agreement with the respective unions, the PFA and LMA (League Managers’ Association).

‘So the comment that THFC has chosen to cut non-playing staff wages while choosing not to cut playing staff wages is inaccurate.

‘But there is nothing to stop the club’s players making a voluntary contribution to ensure that the most vulnerable do not bear too great a burden.

‘And there is nothing to stop the club’s directors, including the chairman, making a further personal contribution on top of their 20 per cent wage cuts. Points we have made directly to the club board and will continue to do so.

‘We have made it clear that this is a course of action fans would overwhelmingly support.’

Players across Spain and Italy have agreed voluntary pay-cuts with the entire Barcelona squad, led by Lionel Messi, agreeing to 70% reductions while the coronavirus crisis continues.