Laurence Fox says he has coronavirus and is taking ivermectin | laurence fox

The vaccine skeptic and anti-lockdown campaigner laurence fox has said he has coronavirus.

The actor, who finished sixth in last year’s London mayoral electionstweeted a picture on Sunday of a positive lateral flow test.

Above it, he wrote: “In other news, felt shivery and crap yesterday. Turns out I have been visited by Lord Covid at last and have the Omnicold (if the LFT is to be believed!) On the #Ivermectin, saline nasal rinse, quercetin, paracetamol and ibruprofen. More man flu than Wu-flu at the moment.”

Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic treatment used mainly on animals but which is approved in different doses to treat some parasitic worms in humans. It has not been proven to be effective at preventing or treating Covidbut has been promoted by vaccine-skeptic public figures such as the comedian and podcast host Joe Roganwho said he used the drug to treat himself when he became sick with Covid, and the Fox News host Tucker-Carlson.

Fox’s tweet came four days after he posted a picture of himself wearing a T-shirt with a slogan saying, “No vaccine needed, I have an immune system.” In another tweet posted on Sunday, he said he was on day two of the virus.

After a number of people commented in response to Fox’s tweet asking where he had got the ivermectin and why he was taking it, he responded by saying: “Not only do you only have to sign a form saying you feel well to get into Mexico, but you can also buy drugs like Ivermectin over the counter that the vaccinaholics don’t want you to get hold of here. I’m so happy to be joining the natural immunity club. Going to have a nap.”

Launching his mayoral campaign last year, Fox said he would not get the Covid jab until after 2023, by which time he claimed all the tests needed to convince him of its safety would be completed.

He has also cast doubt on the UK’s death toll from the pandemic, claiming that some doctors were seeking to add non-Covid deaths – including that of his mother in 2020 – to the official tally to support the “government’s fear-based narrative”.

And Fox has questioned the scientific basis of long Covid, which the Office for National Statistics estimates is affecting 1.3 million peopleor 2% of the population, in the UK, based on people self-reporting symptoms that last more than a month after a Covid infection.