The British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab has been named “designated survivor” by Downing Street if Boris Johnson or his top aides are taken ill during the coronavirus crisis, the Sunday Times has reported.

Raab, who is also the first secretary of state, has twice tested negative for COVID-19, after coming down with a cough.

Should Johnson contract the coronavirus, Raab will stand in for him as prime minister. Johnson has not yet been tested for the illness.

Raab’s designation has been contentious, with one unnamed minister telling the Sunday Times that: “If Boris can’t do his job because he is incapacitated, a lot of people think that Michael [Gove] should be running the show, not Raab. One of these people is Michael, of course.”

Under the new plan, if Johnson’s most senior aide, Dominic Cummings, or No. 10’s Director of Communications Lee Cain, are incapacitated during the COVID-19 outbreak, they will be replaced by Isaac Levido, the Tory campaign director during the general election, or Paul Stephenson, the Communications director for Vote Leave