Britain’s Queen Elizabeth tests positive for COVID, Buckingham Palace says
Written by ABC Audio All Rights Reserved on February 20, 2022
(LONDON) — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has tested positive for COVID-19, Buckingham Palace announced on Sunday.
The Queen, 95, has been experiencing “mild cold-like symptoms,” the palace said. She’s expected to carry out “light duties” in the coming week.
“She will continue to receive medical attention and will follow all the appropriate guidelines,” the palace said.
“I’m sure I speak for everyone in wishing Her Majesty The Queen a swift recovery from Covid and a rapid return to vibrant good health,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Twitter.
News of the monarch’s diagnosis comes after it was confirmed that her son, Prince Charles, and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, tested positive for COVID-19. Clarence House announced Prince Charles’s diagnosis on Feb. 10, and Camilla’s on Feb. 14.
This is the second time Prince Charles, 73, has tested positive for COVID-19, with his first diagnosis coming in March 2020, before he was vaccinated.
Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, held several virtual and in-person events this month, including an event in Sandringham on Feb. 5 to mark her 70 years on the throne.
The queen, who returned to Windsor Castle shortly after the reception, met with representatives from local community groups in the ballroom at Sandringham House to celebrate the start of the Platinum Jubilee.
The Feb. 5 event was the queen’s first public, in-person event since October, when she was hospitalized for one night for what the palace described as “preliminary investigations.”
After being advised by her doctors to rest, Queen Elizabeth took on a more modified schedule. In November, she missed the annual Remembrance Sunday Service for the first time in her reign due to a sprained back.
The queen had already modified her schedule throughout the coronavirus pandemic, holding virtual audiences and participating in video calls instead of public events.
When her husband, Prince Philip, died at age 99 last April, the queen sat alone during the funeral service in St. George’s Chapel, following pandemic restrictions.
Both Queen Elizabeth and her late husband received their first COVID-19 vaccination shots in January 2021, Buckingham Palace confirmed at the time.
Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, confirmed in December that they had both received their booster shoots of the vaccine, according to the BBC.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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