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PARIS (AFP) – French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday (December 17), the presidency said, adding that he will now self-isolate himself for the next week.
He is one of several world leaders who have contracted Covid-19, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and United States President Donald Trump.
Macron was tested after the “onset of the first symptoms” and now, according to national regulations, “it will isolate itself for seven days.” He will continue to work and carry out his activities remotely, ”his office said in a statement.
As a result of the diagnosis, a trip next week by Macron to Lebanon, where the president had been pushing for far-reaching political change after the explosion of the giant port of Beirut in August, was canceled, his office said.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex will isolate himself after contact with Macron, his office said.
He said the prime minister shows no symptoms, but will no longer go to the French Senate on Thursday to outline his government’s vaccine strategy to combat Covid-19.
Macron’s wife, Brigitte, will also isolate herself, but will also show no symptoms, her office said.
Speaker of Parliament Richard Ferrand also isolates himself after contact with Macron, his office said.
Infections remain high
France earlier this week eased restrictions imposed to fight the second wave of the coronavirus, but infection rates remain high.
There is still a nationwide nightly curfew starting at 8 pm to stop the spread of the virus, while restaurants and cafes as well as theaters and cinemas remain closed.
More than 59,300 people have died in France from coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, according to official figures.
The record of more than 17,000 new cases on Wednesday alone has also raised concern as people shop and travel more heavily before the Christmas holidays.
Like other EU states, France is pinning its hopes on a vaccine to quell the virus and Castex said on Wednesday that the country will receive around 1.16 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the year.
Castex said the start of the vaccine campaign was conditional on approval by the European Medicines Agency, scheduled for December 21.
“Only in late spring will we open the vaccination program to the entire population,” he added.
Another problem for French authorities is that, according to an opinion poll, only 53 percent of people want to get vaccinated, one of the lowest rates in the world.
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