French president Emmanuel Macron is battling a fever and cough while he self-isolates with COVID-19.
Macron tweeted a video Friday saying he’d been careful but got the virus though “perhaps, doubtless, a moment of negligence, a moment of bad luck, too.”
“I am doing well,” the 42-year-old said. “Normally, there is no reason for it to evolve in a bad way.”
The French politician tested positive for the virus on Thursday after exhibiting symptoms linked to the fast-spreading disease. A source told Agence France-Presse he was likely infected during a European summit in Brussels last week, which included a working dinner and “a night of negotiations.”
As a precaution, the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, and politicians from Belgium, Portugal, Luxembourg and Spain have entered isolation.
Macron’s wife, Brigitte, was also quarantining on Friday. So far, she has not shown any signs of the illness.
“She has no symptoms and has tested negative for COVID-19,” a spokesperson for the French first lady told Le Parisien.
In the days leading up to his diagnosis, the 42-year-old French president also met with the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, Portugal’s Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, and attended a cabinet meeting.
The presidential palace’s chief doctor, Jean-Christophe Perrochon, who is also a military medic, was treating Macron on Friday, according to officials. He was also the one who administered the politician’s coronavirus test.
Since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in France in January, more than 2.5 million people have been infected. According to the most recent data from Johns Hopkins University, about 60,000 in France have died from the disease.
Macron’s government has faced criticism for not having enough masks or tests, and for not confining the population quickly enough. A strict two-month lockdown brought infections down enough for France to send children back to school and their parents back to work.
With News Wire Services