MACRON TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19

French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for coronavirus, his office said on Thursday, sparking a track and trace effort targeting EU leaders and senior officials who met him in recent days, Elizabeth Pineau and Michel Rose reported for Reuters.

“The President of the Republic has been diagnosed positive for COVID-19 today (December 17, 2020),” Macron’s office said in a statement. “This diagnosis was made following a PCR test performed at the onset of the first symptoms.” Macron would self-isolate for the next seven days and would continue to run the country remotely. His wife Brigitte was also self-isolating.

The French leader’s office, which declined to give details of his condition or which symptoms he had, said all Macron’s trips had been cancelled, including a Dec. 22 visit to Lebanon. Macron attended a European summit late last week at which he met a host of EU leaders to discuss the European Union’s budget, climate change and Turkey.

While the leaders were gathering in the summit room and initially mingling with their face masks on, they take them off once they sit down to talks, although remain quite far apart at their round table. Macron and his wife Brigitte also hosted a private dinner with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, during which he awarded him the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor.

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