French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that he was feeling well, but was working slower after being infected with the coronavirus, while pleading with the French to remain vigilant and warned that “no one is protected from this virus” .
“I’m doing well,” Mr. Macron said in a video posted on Twitter that he appeared to have recorded on a handheld smartphone. “I have the same symptoms as yesterday – that is, fatigue, headache, dry cough.”
The video broke with the tradition of France’s old secret regarding the health of its presidents, whose medical histories and conditions are rarely broadcast in public.
Mr Macron, who is isolating himself in an official presidential residence in Versailles, west of Paris, wore a black collar and sat in a desk with a desk and French and European flags in the background. His wife, Brigitte Macron, gave negative results and was expected to stay at the Élysée Palace in Paris.
He didn’t look obviously ill, with no signs of difficulty breathing, but he seemed less energetic and spoke slower than usual. He said he continues to deal with important day-to-day issues.
But he admitted that he was “a bit slowed down by the virus.”
Mr Macron said he would provide daily updates on his condition, although he did not specify whether he would do so via video.
“Normally, there is no reason why things would change for the worse, but I am closely monitored medically and I will update you in a totally transparent way,” he said.
He added a warning that the country had more than 18,000 new infections on Thursday, saying: “We must remain vigilant.”
Mr Macron did not say how he could have been infected. French officials raised the possibility of him being exposed at a meeting of senior EU officials in Brussels last week.
“I’m very protected, I’m very careful, I follow the rules of distance, I wear a mask, I use hydroalcoholic gel regularly – and, in spite of everyone, I caught the virus,” he said. “Probably a moment of negligence, a moment of bad luck, too.”
Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic, who also attended the meeting, tested positive for coronavirus, the government said on Friday, without giving further details.
Some other officials close to Mr Macron are taking extra precautions. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who had lunch with Mr Macron, has suspended his official activities until December 24. Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa, who dined with Mr Macron on Tuesday, planned to quarantine and test him. Charles Michel, a senior European Union official, went into quarantine after meeting with Mr Macron on Monday, a spokesman said.