Honduran president has COVID-19

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez has been diagnosed with coronavirus, is receiving treatment and will work remotely and through his aides, he said in a statement late on Tuesday.

“As president of the nation and a responsible citizen, I want to communicate that during the weekend I started to feel some discomfort and today I was diagnosed as having been infected with COVID-19,” Hernandez said in a televised speech.

“They have recommended rest but I will continue working remotely and through my aides.”

Hernandez has mild symptoms, is receiving treatment and feeling better, he added.

He will stay in isolation under observation to decide where his treatment will continue, as recommended by his doctors, the government said in a statement. He is taking a cocktail of drugs that includes microdacyn, azithromycin, ivermectin and zinc.

His wife and two aides, also diagnosed with the virus, are all being treated.

First lady Ana Garcia de Hernandez is asymptomatic and will self-quarantine at home, the government added.

Honduras has reported 9,656 viral infections and 330 deaths.

The United Nations (UN) warned Tuesday that the coronavirus crisis is pushing 40 million people into food insecurity in South, Central America and the Caribbean, calling for urgent action to avert a “hunger pandemic.”

The alarm came as Latin America and the Caribbean on Monday passed 80,000 COVID-19 deaths, according to an AFP count based on official figures, as the virus accelerates across the region.