The president has not been seen since Monday when he was photographed during a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
President López Obrador is well and has only mild symptoms four days after he announced that he tested positive for Covid-19, Interior Minister Olga Sánchez said Thursday.
Speaking at the regular news conference usually presided over by López Obrador, Sánchez said the 67-year-old president continues to carry out his duties as head of the executive branch of government.
The interior minister said that López Obrador, a former smoker with a history of high blood pressure who suffered a heart attack in 2013, will return to his daily pressers as soon as his doctors give him the green light to do so. He is currently in isolation at his home in the National Palace and being monitored by a medical team led by Health Minister Jorge Alcocer.
“I assure you that he is very well, very optimistic as always, in a good mood and very soon we’ll have him with us,” Sánchez said.
Speaking at the Health Ministry’s Wednesday night coronavirus press briefing, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said that López Obrador had “minimal symptoms.”
“He’s had a few brief episodes of low-grade fever and practically no other discomfort. When he’s asked repeatedly, he finally gives in and says ‘a little bit of a headache since you’re asking so much,’” he said.
The government hasn’t disclosed whether López Obrador is being treated with any medications.
The president has been silent on social media since Monday when he announced that he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin and thanked him for agreeing to supply 24 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.
However, his wife took to Facebook on Thursday to thank those who have wished the president well.
“I’m frequently sent photographs of altars, mantras, prayers, recipes to cure respiratory diseases, diets to strengthen the immune system, breathing advice, ejaculatory prayers, good vibes and cards … from believers of assorted religions, and even atheists and skeptics. [They come] from Mexico and abroad. When one wishes another well, one expresses their good wishes according to their beliefs. We’re talking about humanism,” Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller wrote.
“There are very few who have wished for misfortune for our president. Even for them, we ask for … health, love and mercy from the bottom of our hearts.”
Several high-ranking officials who had contact with López Obrador last week went into isolation but none has announced a positive Covid test. Among those who have said they tested negative are Interior Minister Sánchez, Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard and López-Gatell, the government’s coronavirus point man.
Mexico News Daily
