Europe

French President Emmanuel Macron tests positive for COVID-19

French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for coronavirus and will be quarantined for a week, his official residence announced on Thursday.

Macron was tested for the virus after the onset of symptoms, although the Elysee Palace did not immediately explain what these symptoms might include. He will be isolated for seven days and will continue to work remotely, his residence said.

Due to his age, Macron, 42, is not considered part of the population at greatest risk for serious complications of COVID-19.

France underwent a strict one-month blockade in November and was able to reduce the infection rate from a record of more than 60,000 confirmed cases in a single day, to 14,000. However, some restrictions have been loosened, the country maintains the 20 hours curfew at night.

Macron attended a European Union summit late last week, where he met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He met Wednesday with the Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa. On Monday, he met with Spanish leader Pedro Sánchez.

EU regulators have yet to approve a vaccine developed in Germany against the coronavirus that is already being launched in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Some German and French authorities asked the European Medicines Agency to approve the injection made by Pfizer and the German company BioNTech before Christmas.

News of the president’s infection comes just weeks before France received 1.16 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.