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French President Emmanuel Macron was positively diagnosed by Covid-19 on Thursday (17), according to a statement from the French government.
“In accordance with current sanitary regulations, and applicable to all, the President of the Republic will isolate himself for seven days. He will continue working and exercising his activities remotely,” said Eliseu Palace, seat of the presidency.
The document does not say whether the first lady, Brigitte Macron, was also tested. At 67, he is part of the risk group for Covid-19.
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French Prime Minister Jean Castex has also been in contact with the president and will be in voluntary isolation for seven days.
According to Eliseu, it is not yet known how Macron contracted the disease, however, he has had several public activities in recent weeks.
The Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa, met this Wednesday (16) with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, at the Elysee Palace in Paris – Photo: Thomax Coex / AFP
On Wednesday, Macron attended a public event with Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa. The Portuguese government said Costa will undergo a test on Thursday, but has no symptoms of the disease.
The president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, also announced that he will be quarantined after Macron’s confirmation. The two met on Monday over lunch.
Last week, the French president was in Brussels for a meeting with several European leaders during the European Union Summit over the coronavirus crisis.
President Macron speaks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, along with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at a meeting in Brussels on December 10, 2002. – Photo: Olivier Matthys / Pool / Reuters / Archive
Restrictions continue
Last week, France announced that it would not go ahead with the plan to reopen museums, cinemas and theaters as planned because Covid-19 infection rates are not falling as fast as the government hoped.
The country also imposed a curfew starting at 8 p.m., including on New Year’s Eve. The measure tries to prevent a new recurrence in cases of coronavirus.
The situation in France had improved considerably since the country adopted a new lockdown on October 30, which reduced daily infections from nearly 50,000 to 10,000.
The pace of the decline has slowed in recent days. Prime Minister Castex said that if the French let their guard down, they could face a third “lockdown” in the coming months.
