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Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has contracted Covid-19 a second time, making him one of the first major world leaders to contract the virus twice.
The president, who has had three doses of the
AstraZeneca
vaccine, said on Twitter late Monday that he had tested positive, had only minor symptoms, and would isolate and continue his work remotely. He said Adán Augusto López Hernández, Mexico’s interior minister, would represent him in press conferences and other official acts in his absence.
Earlier in the day, he held a two-hour press conference without a mask and despite saying he had cold-like symptoms and a cough.
“Yes, I woke up hoarse, I’ll take a (Covid-19) test later, but I think it’s just a cold,” he said when asked by a journalist why he sounded sick.
During the press conference, he talked about the importance of people assuming they were sick with Covid-19 if they had cold-like symptoms.
“If you’re vaccinated, and you get sick with something that seems like Covid, assume it is Covid,” he said. Among other steps, he urged those with symptoms to stay at home and keep isolated to prevent infecting others.
The 68-year-old president, who initially played down Covid-19 as no worse than the flu and encouraged Mexicans to keep socializing, got Covid-19 last January and was out for nearly two weeks.
Many world leaders, including former U.S. President
Donald Trump,
British Prime Minister
Boris Johnson,
and Brazilian President
Jair Bolsonaro,
have also contracted Covid-19.
The Omicron variant is spreading fast in Mexico, which reported a record 30,670 new cases on Saturday. Some 56% of Mexico’s population have received two doses of vaccine, but the government hasn’t said how many have received a booster shot. Mr. López Obrador’s government has so far declined to vaccinate anyone under age 15 who doesn’t have an underlying health condition.
Write to David Luhnow at david.luhnow@wsj.com and José de Córdoba at jose.decordoba@wsj.com
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Appeared in the January 11, 2022, print edition as ‘Mexican Leader Gets Covid a Second Time.’
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