The United Kingdom Health Secretary Matt Hanock resigned on Saturday following revelations that he broke COVID restrictions during an affair with his close aide.
Hanock is one of the leads in the UK's pandemic response said that he is quitting in a letter to the British Prime Minister.
“We owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down as I have done by breaching the guidance,” he wrote.
“The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis,” he added.
Johnson said he was “sorry” to receive Hancock’s resignation, and that he should be “immensely proud” of his service.
The prime minister had initially stood by his beleaguered health secretary after he admitted to breaking COVID-19 rules on social distancing, at a time when he was urging the public to stick by the measures, including curbs on funeral numbers.