• Macron tests positive for coronavirus
French president latest world leader to become infected
PARIS » French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for the coronavirus after exhibiting a cough, fever and fatigue, the country’s presidential palace announced Thursday.
The 42-year-old president would isolate for seven days but continue to work, the Élysée Palace said.
Hours after his diagnosis was announced, the Élysée released a video of Macron presiding over a meeting on development via videoconference, though a spokesperson told Reuters that all of the president’s upcoming trips - including a visit to Lebanon that was scheduled for next week - had been canceled.
Macron is the latest world leader to be infected by the virus, after President Donald Trump, Britain’s Boris Johnson and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro - all of whom have recovered. In contrast with those leaders, who at least initially played down the threat of the virus, Macron was one of the first heads of state in the West to embrace mask-wearing, and in the spring he presided over one of the tightest lockdowns in Europe. Macron’s age also puts him in a lower risk category. It was difficult to get a sense of his condition from the video released Thursday. Wearing a dark turtleneck, blazer and N95 mask, Macron read from his notes on international development. He appeared to be more actively engaged than Trump was when the White House released staged photos from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and he wasn’t as obviously sick as Johnson was in a video released before the British prime minister was hospitalized.
Macron’s diagnosis underscored that France is still contending with a second wave of the virus.
A national second lockdown imposed in late October did manage to curb the spread, but the government had hoped that the daily case load would be lower than 5,000 by the time it lifted movement restrictions earlier this week.
On Wednesday, however, the French Health Ministry reported 17,615 new cases in the previous 24 hours along with 264 new deaths. Hospitals had admitted 8,979 new patients, 1,205 of whom were admitted to intensive care units, according to the ministry.