President Emmanuel Macron Thursday tested positive for COVID-19, the presidency said, sending at least three fellow leaders as well as other top French officials into self-isolation.
Macron had attended an EU summit in Brussels last week and also on Monday was personally present at a conference in Paris organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, who was also present in Paris for that meeting, has entered self-isolation, his spokesman said.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who also had contact with Macron, are going into quarantine.
Macron is one of several world leaders who have contracted COVID-19, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Donald Trump.
Macron was tested after the “onset of the first symptoms” and will now, in accordance with national regulations, “self isolate for seven days,” his office said in a statement.
“He will continue to work and carry out his activities remotely.”
EU vaccinations to start Dec. 27
The EU is to start COVID-19 inoculations on December 27, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday.
“It’s Europe’s moment. On 27, 28 and 29 December vaccination will start across the EU,” she tweeted.
Her spokesman Eric Mamer told journalists the rollout was conditional on the European Medicines Agency authorizing the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine when it meets on Monday.
Britain and the United States are already inoculating people with that vaccine under emergency national authorisations.
The EU is carrying out a coordinated vaccination program across its 27 member states to ensure fair access to doses.
The European Commission has sealed contracts with seven suppliers of potential vaccines to ensure all adult EU citizens will eventually be able to be inoculated.
US sets grim double record
The United States set a grim double record Wednesday notching more than 3,700 deaths and more than 250,000 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
The country has seen a spectacular spike in COVID infections for more than a month now, with some 113,000 people currently hospitalized due to the virus, also a new record, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The tally marks the third time in the past week that the United States has crossed the 3,000 deaths threshold. The previous 24-hour record was set in late April at the height of the country’s first wave – which never totally ended.
Over the last two weeks, the number of new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours has climbed above 200,000 for 11 out of 14 days. AFP