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The WikiLeaks founder is fighting attempts to send him to the United States to stand trial for allegedly conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law on the release of confidential cables in 2010 and 2011.
Judge Vanessa Baraitser adjourned the case until Monday after she was told that one of the attorneys involved had been exposed to the virus.
She told London’s Old Bailey that the lawyer was being examined on Thursday, and the result was due to be delivered on Friday.
“For the time being, we would respectfully pose that we have to move forward assuming she has Covid,” said Edward Fitzgerald, Assange’s attorney.
“If that’s the correct assumption… we really shouldn’t be here. Covid would be here in the courtroom and it is not possible to know how far it is spread. “
It comes amid security concerns over the resumption of criminal trials and in-person hearings in many courts in England and Wales.
Birmingham Crown Court was evacuated on Tuesday and temporarily closed for a deep cleaning, after a staff member developed symptoms of coronavirus.
In August, Manchester Crown Court was closed after a Covid-19 outbreak among staff.
The Justice Department has tried to increase the number of hearings after the backlog of criminal cases surpassed 500,000 in England and Wales.
The delays have led to a controversial change in the law to allow suspects to remain in custody longer before trial.
Assange has been held in pre-trial detention at HMP Belmarsh for a year after serving a 50-week jail sentence for violating bail conditions by fleeing to the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012.
His current extradition hearing, which was previously delayed by the coronavirus outbreak, is expected to last about a month.
Assange is fighting extradition to the United States on an 18-count indictment, which alleges he planned to hack computers and conspired to obtain and disclose national defense information.
If convicted, he faces a possible maximum penalty of 175 years in jail.
Assange’s lawyers have argued that he should be granted bail due to the pandemic, as he has suffered from respiratory infections and heart problems.
A judge ordered that he remain in prison because he is considered to be at risk of escape.
At Wednesday’s hearing, it was said that the Australian’s political views put him in the “crosshairs” of the Donald Trump administration.
Professor Paul Rogers told the Old Bailey that the WikiLeaks revelations were “significant” in showing how the US coalition wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were “going badly” despite public claims of their success.
Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy – a chronology
The emeritus professor of peace studies at Bradford University said leaked documents released by WikiLeaks expose details of an additional 15,000 civilians killed in Iraq.
When asked by Fitzgerald QC if he believed the charges against Assange were motivated by “criminal justice concerns” or political considerations, Professor Rogers said: “I have to say that it appears to be the latter. This appears to be a political trial. “
The defense witness said that the failure of President Barack Obama’s administration to prosecute Assange was also a factor in the Trump administration’s decision-making.
Trevor Timm, co-founder and CEO of the San Francisco-based Freedom of the Press Foundation, said his organization had contributed about $ 100,000 to Assange’s legal costs.
He described the case as “a serious threat to press freedom in the United States” and agreed that it was the “thin end of the gap to prosecute journalists.”
Additional agency reports
