FRANCE'S MACRON TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
Officials trying to learn where virus contracted
PARIS • President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday, prompting a track-and-trace effort across Europe following numerous meetings between the French leader and EU heads of government in recent days.
Macron, 42, was running the country remotely after going into quarantine in the Elysée Palace, the presidency said.
In the early evening, he spoke to a conference on French foreign aid policy via video link. Dressed in a rollneck sweater and suit jacket, the president sat behind a desk and wore a face mask.
His wife Brigitte tested negative but was also self-isolating.
“This diagnosis was made following a PCR test performed at the onset of the first symptoms,” Macron's office said, declining to give further details of his condition or the symptoms he had.
Macron will cancel all upcoming trips, including a Dec. 22 visit to Lebanon where the French president has led international efforts to resolve a political crisis.
Closer to home, Macron's COVID-19 infection spurred other leaders to take their own tests.
Macron joined all but two of the European Union's 27 leaders at a summit in Brussels late last week to discuss climate change, the EU budget and Turkey.
Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and others were seen mingling in the summit room with their face masks on. German officials said Merkel wore a mask at the summit and complied with COVID rules. The German government said Merkel tested negative after the summit.
More recently, Macron had lunch with European Council President Charles Michel, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and OECD chief Angel Gurria, who is 70, on Monday. He also held talks with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa on Wednesday.
Sanchez tested negative for COVID-19 but has suspended all public activities and will quarantine until Dec. 24, his office said. Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, who took a test out of precaution, also received a negative result.
Costa was in self-isolation and awaiting the results of a test, though displaying no symptoms, his office said.
France has one of the highest COVID-19 death counts in Western Europe. The disease has killed nearly 60,000 people and Macron's positive test comes just after France replaced a nationwide lockdown with a curfew, even as new cases show signs of ticking higher once again.
Elysée Palace officials said Macron and his team were trying to assess where he could have contracted the virus.