ALOK Sharma has received a negative test result for coronavirus after appearing visibly ill in the House of Commons chamber, a spokeswoman for the Business Secretary has said.

The spokeswoman said this evening that the Cabinet member - who is also MP for Reading West - will be able to stop his period of self-isolation as he is no longer showing symptoms.

The development will be a relief for Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, because there was a prospect they would have had to isolate if the test came back positive, having spent 45 minutes in a Downing Street meeting with Mr Sharma on Tuesday.

"Business Secretary Alok Sharma has received a negative result after being tested for coronavirus yesterday," the spokeswoman said.

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"Mr Sharma would like to thank the Parliamentary authorities and Speaker and also for the kind words from Parliamentary colleagues and others who have expressed their well-wishes over the last 24 hours."

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said the PM and Mr Sunak held a socially distanced meeting on the economy with Mr Sharma earlier this week.

The spokesman said Mr Johnson would follow medical advice if spoken to by contact tracers who would begin their work if Mr Sharma's test for Covid-19 comes back positive.

Downing Street said the Government was not reconsidering its move to end virtual voting in the Commons, despite the Business Secretary appearing visibly ill in the chamber on Wednesday.

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The spokesman said: "Should the Secretary of State receive a positive test, then he will work with the test and trace service to share information about his recent interactions.

"He did attend a meeting in No 10, which took place before Cabinet. That was a discussion on the economy and in terms of who was present, it was the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Business Secretary."

He stressed the meeting took place with two-metre distancing in place and pointed towards the Government guidelines on how the tracers operate, which include asking individuals whether they had been to a workplace recently.

The spokesman confirmed that even those who have had Covid-19 must isolate and, when pressed on whether the PM would self-isolate if told to, he said: "I would expect us to take medical advice and to follow it."