AMLO tests positive for COVID-19, says it’s ‘not serious’

April 24, 2023

An empty podium at the mañanera — It is expected that President López Obrador will return to his morning press conferences later this week. (Moisés Pablo Nava/Cuartoscuro)

President López Obrador said Sunday that he had tested positive for COVID-19, but asserted that his illness wasn’t serious.

It is the third time that AMLO has contracted COVID after testing positive in January 2021 and in the same month last year.

Interior Minister Adan Augusto Lopez — Interior Minister Adán Augusto López, in foreground, is leading President López Obrador’s daily press conferences until AMLO returns. (Moisés Pablo Nava/Cuartoscuro)

López Obrador, who has received at least three doses of COVID-19 vaccine, announced his latest infection on social media, saying that he was forced to suspend his tour of the Yucatán Peninsula, where he was inspecting progress on the construction of the Maya Train.

The 69-year-old president, who suffered a heart attack in 2013 and has a range of medical conditions, including high blood pressure and thyroid issues, said that his heart was “100%” fine and that he returned to Mexico City, where he would celebrate his son’s 16th birthday “from afar.”

“I’ll isolate for a few days. Interior Minister Adán Augusto López Hernández will lead the morning press conferences. See you soon,” he added.

López Hernández on Monday rejected a report by the newspaper Diario de Yucatán that said that the president fainted in Mérida due to an apparent heart attack and was transferred to a military hospital in Mexico City after taking an emergency flight to the capital on a Mexican Air Force jet.

The president had to cut short his tour of the Yucatán Peninsula, but Interior Minister Adan Augusto Lopez denied that Lopez Obrador had fainted during an event there, as was reported by some media outlets on Sunday. (File photo/lopezobrador.org.mx)

“There was no fainting episode,” the interior minister told reporters at the morning press conference at the National Palace, the seat of executive power and López Obrador’s residence.

“The president is isolating and recovering here at the National Palace,” López Hernández said.

He said it was expected that López Obrador would return to his weekday press conferences in two or three days.

López Hernández, who is aiming to become the ruling Morena party’s candidate at the 2024 presidential election, said he would provide an update on the president’s health at Tuesday’s press conference.

The two leading contenders to secure the Morena nomination, Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard and Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, both wished López Obrador a speedy recovery in posts to their social media accounts, as did other supporters of the president and some of his critics, including ex-president Felipe Calderón.

With reports from El Financiero, Aristegui Noticias and Reforma