PARIS (AP) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday blamed his COVID-19 for a combination of carelessness and bad luck, urging transmitters to stay safe as critics cut back on his behavior to prevent infection. Shake hands frequently in large-group meals over the past week.
Looked like A self shot video Following the president’s retreat in Versailles, where he was being held alone, Macron said he was experiencing symptoms that included headaches, fatigue and a dry cough. He promised to provide daily updates on the evolution of his illness and to be “completely transparent.”
“I’m doing well,” said the French leader. Speaking softly with a gel bottle on the desk behind him and casually dressed on top of the turtleneck. “In general, there is no reason for it to be poorly developed.”
Macron said his infection “shows that the virus really touches everyone, because I’m very safe and very careful.”
“I caught this virus in spite of everything – maybe, of course, a moment of neglect, even a moment of bad luck,” he said.
Igor Matovich, the prime minister of Slovakia, a fellow European leader who spent time with Macron at the EU summit last week, tested positive for the virus on Friday. Ten other leaders at the EU summit have since tested negative; Others are either not testing or have not declared results.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who tested positive for coronavirus and spent three days at Verter Reed Medical Center in early October, spoke with Macron on Thursday and wished him a speedy recovery, the White House said Friday. Several White House aides and members of Trump’s campaign staff tested positive after doing so.
In France, Macron’s diagnosis was criticized for setting a bad precedent as the country sees a new surge in cases and doctors warn families to be careful this holiday season – especially at the dinner table.
Macron usually wears a mask and follows the rules of social distance, and insists that his virus strategy runs from science. But in recent days he has been caught on camera violating France’s virus-control guidelines.
In a meeting on Monday, he shook hands with Angel Guria, head of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and had a half-hearted embrace. Both were masked, but Macron’s office fee admitted on Friday that the move was a “mistake.”
In his video message on Friday, the president suggested that his behavior had helped limit the spread of the virus.
“If I hadn’t respected the rules, the barrier measures, I would have caught it very quickly and, most likely, I would have delivered it to a lot more people in the previous hours.”
He urged people to be “firm” and take care of each other during the season of excitement, warning: “The virus is faster, stronger.”
Last week, Macron spent two days in intense talks with leaders of 26 other member states at the EU summit in Brussels. Video excerpts released by the EU show that the leaders are spread out in circles in a large hall – Macron and most of the other leaders, not masked.
In the days before the test on Positive Thursday, Macron hosted or attended multiple large-group meals, including those of his centrist party and rival politicians, while the French are currently advised to avoid gatherings of more than six people. His office is contacting attendees for a fee meal, but some people sitting away from the president said they were not considered at risk.
Macron office fee does not provide details of its treatment. He is staying at the presidential residence of La Terrantini in the former royal city of Versailles, tightened in a tight grove by police.
Macron has been positively tested as French health authorities are increasingly re-infected and warning more as French families prepare to come together for the Christmas and New Year festivities. France reported another 18,254 new infections on Thursday, with the death toll just below 60,000.
France’s Pasteur Institute published a study on Friday that suggests meal times at home and in public are a major source of contamination. Pasteur Epidemiologist. Arnaud Fontanet said on France-Inter Radio on Friday that during the holidays, “we can see each other, not just too many, and at crucial moments at meal time, not too many people at the same table.”
In line with the recommendations of national health officials, Macron took a test on Thursday morning “as soon as the first symptoms appeared” and will commit suicide for seven days, the president said. Macron plans to continue working, and proceeded with a speech hosted by video conference on Thursday.
The French health minister suggested that Macron would have been infected at the EU summit in Brussels last week, but Macron also got several seats in Paris.
France had Europe’s first case of the virus in January, but Macron’s government came under criticism for not doing enough masks or tests and not quickly limiting the population. Two months of severe lockdowns reduced the infection, and France sent the children back to school and their parents back to work.
But the infection resurfaced this fall so it announced a new, solid lockdown in October aimed at easing pressure on hospitals. The measures were eased a bit this week, although rest restaurants are closed, tourist sites, gyms and some other facilities are closed.
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Leicester is reportedly from Le Pen in France. Karel Janicek in Prague, Catherine Geshcha in Paris and Raf Cassert in Brussels contributed.
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