French President Emmanuel Macron tests positive for Covid, will self isolate for 7 days: details here.
French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for Covid-19, according to a statement from the French Presidency.
The diagnosis was established “as soon as the first symptoms appeared,” Macron’s office said on Thursday. The brief statement did not provide any further details on the symptoms the president had experienced.
“In accordance with the health instructions in force applicable to all, the President of the Republic will isolate himself for 7 days.”
Macron, who turns 43 next week, will continue to work remotely, the statement added.
Prime Minister Jean Castex, 55, will also self-isolate, officials said, after he came into contact with Macron in recent days.
The French president is one of several world leaders to have tested positive for the coronavirus this year, including U.S. President Donald Trump, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
France has recorded more cases of the coronavirus than any other European nation and is behind only the U.S., India, Brazil, and Russia, respectively, for the highest number of infections worldwide.
To date, more than 2.4 million people have contracted Covid-19 in France, with 59,472 related deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Earlier this week, Macron replaced a six-week ban on movement with an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew until mid-January (with Christmas Eve as an exception).
The public health measures stipulate that museums, theaters, cinemas, bars, and restaurants all must remain closed until January at least.
French ski resorts also remain shut, but Macron has said the hugely popular tourist spots may be able to reopen “under favorable conditions” from next month.
Mean-while, India recorded 24,010 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, while the national recovery rate stood at over 95 percent, according to data updated by the Union Health Ministry today.
India’s coronavirus caseload mounted to 99,356,557 with 24,010 infections being reported in a day, while the deaths rose to 1,44,451 with 355 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am on Thursday showed.
There are 3,322,366 active coronavirus infections in the country which constitute 3.24 percent of the total caseload, the data stated.
Meanwhile, Professor Randeep Guleria, the chief of Delhi’s prestigious All-India Institute of Medical Sciences told NDTV on Wednesday that it could take up to six months before a sufficient number of people could be vaccinated to break the chain of coronavirus transmission and another six months before life could get close to the pre-Covid days.
“I’m hopeful that in the next six months, we will have two things. A sufficient number of people who have got the infection and recovered and have some kind of immunity and people who will get the vaccine,” Professor Guleria told NDTV. Together, they should break the chain of transmission of the virus, he added.