President in isolation after Beliz tests positive

President Alberto Fernández went into isolation on Wednesday evening after Strategic Affairs Secretary Gustavo Beliz tested positive for Covid-19.

The Peronist leader had been in contact with the official in recent days and as a result, underwent a test for the virus himself. The result came back negative.

Under guidelines introduced by his administration, Fernández will now remain in isolation at the Olivos presidential residence, he confirmed in a late-night tweet, saying he was “fine, without symptoms of any kind.” Beliz was infected with the coronavirus after seeing a relative, who reported symptoms on Sunday. Fernández last saw the official on Monday in the north of the country, when both were present as Evo Morales crossed the Argentine-bolivian border.

After waving off the indigenous leader, Fernández and Beliz were seen hugging by reporters.

The news led to a number of government officials undergoing tests and going into isolation, amid fears that the virus could spread among Cabinet members.

In addition to the president, the following officials have gone into isolation: Foreign Minister Felipe Solá; Interior Minister Eduardo ‘Wado’ de Pedro; Women, Gender & Diversity Minister Elizabeth

Gómez Alcorta; Culture Minister Tristan Bauer; Secretary General to the Presidency Julio Vitobello; Communications Secretary Juan Pablo Biondi and lawmaker Eduardo Valdés. All of the aforementioned are believed to have been present at a farewell dinner on Sunday night in Jujuy Province, held in honour of Morales and his former vice-president Alvaro García Linera.

The former Bolivia president posted a photograph from the dinner, in which most attendees were pictured close together, without respecting social distancing rules nor using facemasks.

Vitobello, Biondi, Valdés, De Pedro and Bauer all tested negative, the Casa Rosada later confirmed, with no news yet on other officials.