A day earlier, Josephine had written a letter to the Prime Minister on her seventh birthday to tell him she had cancelled her party.The schoolgirl, from Stubbington, Hampshire, said: “I am staying at home because you asked us to.”

She added: “I don’t mind, because I want everybody to be OK.”

Her letter quickly went viral after it was posted on Twitter by the cricket club of which her father, Andrew, is the first XI captain.

The Prime Minister soon responded by sharing the tweet to his millions of followers and writing: “Josephine sets a great example to us all by postponing her birthday party until we have sent coronavirus packing”.

‘You are setting a great example’

He attached a copy of his handwritten letter to Josephine on paper with the 10 Downing Street letterhead, which said: “I am glad to hear you are staying at home, though I am sorry to hear about your party.

“We have all got to do our bit to protect the NHS and save lives, and that is exactly what you are doing, so well done!

“You are setting a great example.”

At the time of the correspondence with the Prime Minister, Josephine’s mum, Philippa, described how “thrilled” the family were.

“When we told Josephine her jaw dropped, it was amazing,” she told the Sunday Mirror.

She was also glowing of her assessment of Mr Johnson, saying: “It’s just amazing that he took the time to respond while dealing with this crisis.”

On Monday night the hashtag accompanying Mr Johnson’s tweet, #BeLikeJosephine, went viral once more as reports suggested he had not, in fact, called off his own birthday party that year.