Mexican president tests positive for COVID-19, symptoms mild

Mexican president tests positive for COVID-19, symptoms mild

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was working from isolation on Monday, a day after announcing that he had tested positive for COVID-19, his interior secretary said.

The president was absent for the first time in his two years in office from his daily news conference.

Having shaped an administration so reliant on himself for everything from setting priorities to making public statements, López Obrador's absence felt all the greater. It comes as his country registers its highest levels of infections and deaths to date.

López Obrador, who has been criticized for his handling of Mexico's pandemic and for not setting an example of prevention in public, announced the diagnosis Sunday on his official Twitter account, saying, “The symptoms are mild but I am already under medical treatment."

José Luis Alomía Zegarra, Mexico’s director of epidemiology, said the 67-year-old López Obrador had a “light” case of COVID-19 and was “isolating at home.”

On Monday, Interior Secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero said the president had designated her to hold the daily briefings until his return. She said López Obrador was well and strong.

“He is carrying out his functions as president of the republic. He will continue keeping an eye on public affairs,” she said. Sánchez Cordero, who spoke without wearing a mask, said she was awaiting test results of her own.

Despite his age and high blood pressure, López Obrador has not received a vaccine shot, though Mexico has received a batch of Pfizer-BioNTech doses. He has said that health workers would be the first to get them. Under the government plan, people over 60 will start being vaccinated in February.

López Obrador has rarely been seen wearing a mask and continued to keep up a busy...

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