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Updated 5 hours ago
FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL Macron has a fever, cough and fatigue from coronavirus in Versailles, authorities said.
They did not provide details about his treatment, but said he is staying at the La Lanterne presidential residence in the old royal city.
While Macron generally wears a mask and adheres to social distancing rules, and has insisted that his virus strategy is driven by science, the 42-year-old president has been caught on camera in recent days violating the guidelines himself. from France.
He shook hands and half hugged the president of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Ángel Gurría, in a meeting on Monday.
Both wore masks, but Macron’s office acknowledged that the move was a “mistake.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin had to be tested for Covid-19 after contact with Macron. Later it tested negative.
He attended a meeting with President Macron at the European Council in Brussels on Thursday and Friday of last week.
Last week, Macron spent two days in intense negotiations at an EU summit in Brussels with the leaders of the other 26 EU countries.
Video excerpts released by the EU showed the leaders scattered in a circle in a huge meeting room, but Macron and most of the other leaders were not wearing masks.
Macron also hosted or participated in multiple large group meals in the days leading up to yesterday’s positive test, including with members of his party and rival politicians.
The French are currently advised to avoid gatherings of more than six people.
His office has been reaching out to those present for meals, but he told some who were sitting away from the president that they are not considered to be at risk.
US President Donald Trump has spoken with French President Emmanuel Macron to wish him a speedy recovery after becoming infected with the coronavirus, the White House said tonight.
In the conversation, which the White House said took place yesterday, Trump “wished President Macron a speedy recovery and a speedy return to his duties,” said spokesman Judd Deere.
“President Trump also extended his best Merry Christmas wishes to President Macron, his family and the people of France,” the statement said.
Macron’s positive test comes amid a surge in infections and further warnings as French families prepare to reunite for the Christmas and New Years holidays.
France reported another 18,254 new infections yesterday and its death toll is now just under 60,000.
The Pasteur Institute today published a study suggesting that meal times at home and in public are a major source of contamination.
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Pasteur epidemiologist Arnaud Fontanet said on France-Inter radio on Friday that during the holidays “we can see each other, just not be too many and at critical moments of meals, not too many people at the same table.”
Macron underwent a test “as soon as the first symptoms appeared” yesterday morning and will self-isolate himself for seven days, in accordance with the recommendations of national health authorities, the presidency said.
French Health Minister Olivier Veran suggested the president may have been infected at an EU summit in Brussels last week, but Macron also had multiple meetings in Paris.
The first virus case in Europe was in France in January, but the Macron government was criticized for not having enough masks or tests and not confining the population quickly enough.
A strict two-month lockdown reduced infections and France sent the children to school and their parents to work.
But infections spiked again in the fall, so he declared a new, softer lockdown in October with the aim of easing pressure on hospitals.
The measures were relaxed slightly this week, although restaurants, tourist sites, gyms and some other facilities remain closed.
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