Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrado – who has long been accused of complacency in his approach to the pandemic – tested positive for Covid-19 and underwent treatment with mild symptoms, according to his Twitter account.
Like the United States López Obrador, who was prepared to step up travel restrictions from a multitude of other countries on Sunday night, tweeted: ‘I regret informing you that I am infected with Covid-19. The symptoms are mild, but I am already under medical treatment. As always, I am optimistic. We will all move forward. ”
The 67-year-old man was rarely seen wearing a mask and continued to maintain a busy travel schedule, including travel on commercial flights.
He resisted the barrier of the economy, noting the devastating effect it would have on many Mexicans living from day to day.
Early in the pandemic, when asked how he protects Mexico, López Obrador pulls two religious amulets out of his wallet and proudly displays them. “The protective shield is the ‘Get behind me, Satan,'” he said, reading the inscription on the amulet: “Stop, enemy, for the heart of Jesus is with me.”
In November, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, said that “Mexico is in a bad state” with the pandemic.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Mexico has registered nearly 150,000 coronavirus deaths and more than 1.7 million infections. Hospitals in the capital have been close to capacity for weeks, as a resurgence of cases followed the holiday season.
Adhanom Ghebreyesus did not name López Obrador, but said: “We want to ask Mexico to be very serious.”
“We have generally said that it is important to wear a mask, hygiene is important and physical distance is important, and we expect leaders to be examples,” he added.
At the start of the pandemic, López Obrador is criticized for still tending to the crowd and giving hugs. The political style of the eternal campaigner, López Obrador, has always been very practical and personal. As the pandemic escalated, he began limiting the attendance of his events and maintaining his distance from supporters.
As of Sunday night, Mexico has administered nearly 630,000 doses of vaccine.
López Obrador’s announcement comes shortly after news broke that he would speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday about obtaining doses of the Sputnik V vaccine. The vaccine has not been approved for use in Mexico, but the government is desperate to fill the gaps for the Pfizer vaccine.
In the United States, which passed 25 million cases of coronavirus over the weekend and nearly 420,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, President Joe Biden will reintroduce the coronavirus travel restrictions for travelers who are not in the US. Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries that allow travel across open borders, according to two White House officials.
Officials, who spoke to the Associated Press about the condition of anonymity to discuss the order, also confirmed Sunday South Africa would be added to the limited list due to concerns about a variant of the virus that has spread outside the country.
Biden reverses an order from then-President Donald Trump in his last days of ministry calling for the easing of travel restrictions from Tuesday.
The South African variant was not discovered in the United States, but another variant of the United Kingdom was found in several states.
New Zealand officials said Monday that his first community lawsuit for two months is the South African variant.
In the north-east China, Tonghua, a city of nearly 400,000 people, was suddenly shut down a week ago, causing complaints on social media that people did not have enough supplies and could not buy medicine. Some of them had only two or three days of food rations.
The city’s deputy mayor, Jiang Haiyan, on Sunday apologized for the slow delivery of daily necessities to residents during a daily briefing. The local epidemic control department also issued an announcement promising residents that in future, five days of basic food will be provided to each household at half the price.
Tonghua reported 246 cases of coronavirus, including 50 asymptomatic cases.