Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Sunday that his test was positive for COVID-19 and that the symptoms are mild.
The Mexican president, who has been criticized for dealing with the pandemic in his country and for not setting an example of prevention in public, said in his official Twitter account that he is under medical treatment.
“I am sorry to inform you that I am infected with COVID-19,” he tweeted. “The symptoms are mild, but I am already undergoing medical treatment. As always, I am optimistic. We will all move on.”
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his morning press conference at the presidential palace, Palacio Nacional, in Mexico City on December 18, 2020. (AP Photo / Marco Ugarte, Archive)
José Luis Alomía Zegarra, Mexico’s director of epidemiology, said that López Obrador had a “mild” case of COVID-19 and was “isolating at home”.
The president of Mexico wrote that, while recovering, Interior Secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero would be taking her place at her daily press conferences, where she usually speaks for two hours without breaks every day of the week.
López Obrador, 67, was rarely seen wearing a mask and continued to maintain a busy travel schedule on commercial flights.
He also resisted the blockade of the economy, recalling the devastating effect it would have on so many Mexicans living on a daily basis, despite the fact that the country has recorded nearly 150,000 COVID-19 deaths and more than 1.7 million infections. Last week, the country recorded the highest levels of infections and deaths so far.
At the beginning of the pandemic, asked how he was protecting Mexico, López Obrador removed two religious charms from his wallet and displayed them with pride.
“The protective shield is ‘Get away from me, Satan,’” said López Obrador, reading the inscription on the amulet: “Stop, enemy, because the Heart of Jesus is with me.
In November, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, asked Mexican leaders to take the coronavirus seriously and give examples to their citizens, saying “Mexico is in a very bad state” with the pandemic.
He did not quote López Obrador, but said: “We would like to ask Mexico to take it seriously.”
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“We have already said this in general, wearing a mask is important, hygiene is important and physical distance is important and we hope that leaders are role models,” he added.
At the beginning of the pandemic, López Obrador was criticized for still leaning into the crowd and giving hugs. The eternal militant, López Obrador’s style of politics has always been very practical and personal. As the pandemic increased, he began to limit participation in its events and to keep his distance from supporters.
But on Friday, López Obrador posted a photo of him, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, a translator, and former chief of staff Alfonso Romo, all gathered around a table for a phone call with the President of the United States. Joe Biden. None were wearing masks; the foreign affairs department did not answer questions about whether Ebrard was tested.
Despite his age and hypertension, in addition to being operated on after a heart attack, López Obrador said he would not abandon vaccination. But he was having coronavirus tests once a week.
At his age and with existing health conditions, López Obrador’s turn to get the vaccine may still take weeks, as the country still works to vaccinate frontline health professionals.
As of Sunday night, Mexico had administered nearly 630,000 doses of the vaccine.
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López Obrador’s announcement came shortly after news that he would speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday about getting doses of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.