PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for the coronavirus and will work in isolation next week, urging other European leaders to take precautionary measures and complicating Europe’s efforts to contain the second wave of epidemics.
President Lacy Palace on Thursday declared Mr Mac Crone ill without explaining the symptoms or the gravity of his condition. As Europe’s youngest leader, at the age of at૨, the president is not the most susceptible to the virus, but its effects are thought to be unpredictable. How open the president’s office will be about his position as it develops is an open question.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attle said: “Late at night, the president started feeling the effects of Covid-19. He immediately isolated himself and gave a PCR test. The result was told to us this morning. He added that efforts are underway through tracing of contacts to identify anyone who has recently met with Mr Mac Kron.
The Spanish government announced that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who had lunch with Mr Mac Crone on Monday, had suspended his official activities until December 24. In Portugal, Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who had lunch with Mr. Mac Krone on Tuesday, said to self-isolate and test for Covid-19. Charles Mitchell, a top EU official, will go into isolation after a meeting with Mr Macron on Monday, a spokesman said.
How Mr. Mac contracted the Crohn’s virus is a mystery. Other world leaders, including President Trump, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonoro and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, were more equitable or skeptical about the epidemic. Mr. Mac Cron, however, has consistently been consistent in emphasizing the gravity of the threat.
In the past, France has sought to release details of its president’s health. The cancer that took the life of Franકોois Mitterrand, for example, was only hinted at quietly, if not at all. Augustara’s presidency is seen as inconsistent with the details of his bodily functions. But as president of modernization, Mr. Mac Kron wants a transparent approach.
His first public appearance after a positive test, in a clear attempt to reassure the people, at a planned conference on French development aid late Thursday night. Speaking through a video link and wearing a medical-grade mask, he did not show clear signs of illness and did not mention it in the speech.
The cascade of leaders separating themselves came at a difficult moment. Europeans across the continent are resistant to preventive measures that have become a boring life. Six weeks after the second lockdown, an eight-hour curfew was imposed in France on Tuesday. It will last at least another month.
Christmas lights flicker on the haunted Parisian streets where all the restaurants are closed. The holiday season itself will be a pale shadow. In the world capital of gastronomy, people rarely hold sandwiches on city benches.
Mr. Mac Kron will celebrate his 43rd birthday on December 21st. His wife, Brigitte Macron, 67, tested negative for the virus. She is also working in solitude.
It is likely to partially disappear from the perspective of some leaders as concerns intensify in a continent facing its worst recession since World War II. Millions have been outraged. The eurozone’s second-largest French economy is expected to shrink by 9 percent this year.
Billions of euros have been spent considering the devastating effects of the virus, but the chances of a speedy recovery are slim as the number of these cases in Europe rises to new heights. The French central bank said on Monday that economic activity would not return to pre-epidemic levels before 2022. Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic are among the countries recently hit by the lockdown.
The French weekly Le Point reported that Mr Mac Krone had dinner with dozens of his political colleagues at the Palace Palace on Wednesday night, all socially at a long table away from each other and wearing masks without eating. The government has advised that no more than six people should gather around one table during the holidays. At meal time, Mr. Macron showed no symptoms, participants said.
The presidential approval rating has remained around 38 per cent, which is relatively high for the French leader. It went down to 24 percent in 2018. His tough responses to issues including security, jihadist terrorist threats and immigration have reflected the mood of a significant section of the country that has been torn apart.
It is not clear whether sympathy for his position will now gain momentum or whether political vacuum concerns will affect his popularity. The next presidential election is 18 months away.
“This could give the Crown people more weight and power in complying with lockdown rules,” said Jacques Rupnick, a leading political scientist. “The second wave is very difficult for many to swallow. It could also reinforce their message about vaccination in a country where only a small majority believe in vaccines. “
Hopes for a better time are fixed for the vaccine. Prime Minister Jean Kastex, who will also work in isolation after attending a weekly cabinet meeting with Mr Mac Krone on Wednesday, announced this week that inoculations would begin in the final weekend of the year.
Once European and French authorities approve the Pfizer-Bioentech vaccine, France is expected to receive the first shipment of 1.16 million doses. But the vaccine is not an immediate cure.
Since the epidemic began, more than 2.4 million of the Covid-19 have been confirmed in France, and more than 59,000 people have died, the worst number in Europe. An average of 12,000 new cases are reported daily. The number of patients in intensive care dropped from the second lockdown to around 2,900, compared to 5,000 a month earlier, but that was not enough to avoid the imposition of a holiday-season curfew.
Contributed by the report Raphael Minder From Madrid, Liz Alderman, Continuous mahout And Ure Relin Briden From Paris, and Matina Stevis-Gridneff From Brussels.
