They attend regular meetings, travel around the world for conferences and spend their days shaking hands and glad-handing supporters and colleagues: are politicians making the COVID-19 pandemic worse by just doing their job?

Footage of Iran's Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi coughing and sweating during a press conference where he sought to downplay the risks of the outbreak in Iran went viral in late February. A day after the briefing, Harirchi said he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

While he announced he was isolating himself, government spokesman Ali Rabiei, who stood beside Harirchi during the briefing, attended another press conference the next day with Industries Minister Reza Rahmani and other officials, AFP news agency reported.

Since then, 23 MPs have tested positive for the virus, and on Wednesday, Al Jazeera citing Fars News Agency reported that Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, Tourism and Cultural Heritage Minister Ali Asghar Mounesan and Rahmani were ill, although it was unclear whether the latter's infection was linked to Rabiei.

In the UK, Health Minister Nadine Dorries was diagnosed with COVID-19 this week, while a deputy from Spain's far-right Vox party, Javier Ortega Smith, also tested positive.

In the U.S., Texas Senator Ted Cruz, congressmen Paul Gosar, Doug Collins and Matt Gaetz and incoming White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows have gone into self-isolation as a precaution, after coming into contact with an attendee at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) who later fell ill.

Meanwhile, a French Polynesian member of parliament (MP), Maina Sage, has just been announced as the first case of COVID-19 in the Pacific Islands, after she met last week in Paris with French Culture Minister Franck Riester, who has also tested positive.

Avoiding crowds

As the epidemic has spread globally, health professionals have advised time and again to avoid shaking hands and staying away from crowds and public places.

But much of a politician's job involves precisely that, meaning they are more easily exposed to any contagion. And in turn, they may more easily pass it on.

French Minister Riester spent several days last week at the 577-member National Assembly, where five deputies have also fallen sick. Sage, the French Polynesian MP, was also there.

UK Minister Dorries attended two votes in the House of Commons as well as an event with over 100 people hosted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to mark International Women's Day, before she tested positive.

Ortega Smith spoke at a mass rally days before he was diagnosed, later admitting "It was a mistake for which we apologise."

The CPAC event in the U.S., held over several days, reportedly attracted some 19,000 including high-profile speakers like President Donald Trump.

No need to test?

Most of those directly affected have quickly taken precautions and gone into self-isolation. But criticism has piled on others for ignoring the risks and going about government work as usual.

One U.S. representative, Louie Gohmert, chose not to follow his colleagues' example and self-quarantine after coming into contact with the infected CPAC attendee who later tested positive, insisting he was "asymptomatic." On Monday, he returned to Congress and reporters noted he later gave a tour of the Capitol building to a group of about 100 children and parents.

In the UK, the House of Commons said there are no plans to suspend Parliament despite Dorries probably coming into contact with many colleagues last week. Neither Boris Johnson nor any member of his cabinet is due to be tested, according to sources.

Trump has not undergone any testing either, with White House spokesperson Stefanie Grisham explaining that "he has neither had prolonged close contact with any known confirmed COVID-19 patients, nor does he have any symptoms."

Still, some governments have begun scaling down activities in the face of a global pandemic that has proven non-discriminating, killing at least seven politicians or government officials so far in Iran.

Tehran has suspended Parliament, Spain will do so for at least a week and in Brussels, several top EU meetings have been canceled.

Going a step further, Portugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced on Monday that he had canceled all official engagements for the next two weeks and would remain under voluntary self-quarantine, despite not testing positive for COVID-19. With all Portuguese asked to take precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, "The President of the Republic believes that he should set an enhanced example," his office said.