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Belgian Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès (45) has been admitted to intensive care for Covid-19 amid an increase in infections in the country.
Ms Wilmès was prime minister until three weeks ago, when she was replaced by Alexander De Croo, and led Belgium for the entire year as she struggled with one of the world’s highest death rates in the pandemic.
She tested positive for the virus five days ago, and wrote on social media that she had likely contracted it in her family circle.
“Unfortunately, the multiplication of cases reminds us that no one is safe. Take care of yourselves and especially each other, ”Ms Wilmès wrote at the time.
She was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday and is conscious and in stable condition, according to a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry.
Belgium’s first female prime minister, a member of the French-speaking Reform Movement political party and a mother of four, Wilmès led an interim administration for a year until the formation of the current seven-party government, which is made up of parties spanning the entire territory. linguistic and political divisions of the country.
Along with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, Ms Wilmès was one of two European Union Foreign Ministers who tested positive after they held a meeting in Brussels on October 12.
Schallenberg’s spokesman told Austrian media that he may have been infected at the meeting, which was also attended by Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney.
A number of top EU figures have been in and out of quarantine as infections rise in Belgium, where almost 9,000 new cases are detected on average daily, and one in four tests in Brussels are positive.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen abruptly left a meeting of EU national leaders in Brussels last week after learning that close contact with her had tested positive. He traveled to Germany for a period of self-isolation.
Belgium this week closed bars and restaurants and imposed a curfew after midnight while restricting the sale of alcohol in a bid to control the spread of the disease. Since testing facilities cannot keep up, the government has announced that testing will be limited to people who have symptoms.
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