Mexico City, Jan. 25, (dpa/GNA) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, he announced on Twitter on Sunday.
“I regret to inform you that I am infected with Covid,” he wrote. ” The symptoms are mild but I am already under medical treatment. As always, I am optimistic.”
“I will be aware of public affairs from the National Palace.
For example, tomorrow I will take a call with President Vladimir Putin because {…} there is a possibility that they will send us the Sputnik V vaccine,” he added.
The total death toll in the country since the pandemic began is now more than 149,000 – the fourth-highest worldwide.
Testing is limited in the country, and the true number of infections is likely to be higher than government figures show. The number of deaths is also suspected to be higher than the official toll.
The president has downplayed the danger of the virus repeatedly and almost never wears a mask.
Lopez Obrador has said he would not wear a mask until corruption was wiped out in Mexico and that not lying and stealing would protect him from the virus.
Over the weekend, the left-wing populist participated in events in the states of Nuevo Leon and San Luis Potosi. Photos of him have circulated on social media in the past few days, showing the president indoors with other people, with no-one wearing a mask.
One of them had been published by the president himself: it shows him on Friday, sitting next to Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, talking on the phone with newly inaugurated US President Joe Biden.
Mexico, which has a population of 130 million people and many living in poverty, is among the countries which have spent the least amount of money per person to help its people or curb its economic woes.
The Mexican health system was already chronically under-financed before the pandemic. Many of its hospitals are now full.
GNA