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Robert Peston reveals he has tested positive for COVID despite being double-jabbed

ITV News Political Editor Robert Peston in Downing Street, London.
ITV News political editor Robert Peston has revealed he has contracted COVID-19. (PA)

Robert Peston has revealed he has tested positive for coronavirus, despite being fully vaccinated.

The ITV News political editor announced on Twitter on Monday that he has contracted COVID-19.

Peston, 61, said he had tested positive despite having had two coronavirus jabs.

Announcing his decision to cancel a trip to Aberdeenshire in Scotland, Peston wrote on Twitter: “I was supposed to be at the New Enlightenment summit in Braemar but depressingly have tested positive for COVID (yes am double vaxxed).”

The summit is a science conference featuring academics, economists and business leaders.

The journalist is not the first high-profile name to contract coronavirus after having two vaccines.

In July, health secretary Sajid Javid revealed he had to self-isolate after testing positive despite being fully vaccinated.

He described his symptoms at the time as mild.

In the same month, broadcaster Piers Morgan said he had tested positive for COVID-19, saying he caught it after going to Wembley to watch England play in the Euros final.

Morgan told the Mail on Sunday at the time: “This is definitely the roughest I've felt from any illness in my adult life.

“But, as I slowly come out the other side, coughing and spluttering, I'm still here – unlike so many millions around the world who've lost their lives to COVID in this pandemic.”

In a report published last Friday, Public Health England (PHE) said that of the 492,528 cases of the Delta variant recorded in England since the beginning of February, almost a quarter (113,823), were in people have have had two jabs.

About 44% of those cases - 219,716 - were in people who were unvaccinated.

According to the latest government figures, 43.3 million people in the UK have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, almost 80% of the adult population.

Watch: COVID in numbers - UK records 37,011 more cases