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At the usual daily press conference of the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador appeared on video to confirm that he has tested positive for Covid-19 for the second time and claimed to have mild symptoms. The case raises a new controversy after the president appeared on Monday with hoarseness before journalists.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, president of Mexico, appeared again this Tuesday at his daily press conference at the National Palace. On this occasion, however, he did it telematically from his home to confirm that he contracted the Covid-19 virus for the second time.
AMLO claimed to feel “fine” and even took his temperature live to show that he did not have a fever. “What do I have? Burning in the throat, it’s like a flu with hoarseness. A little bit of body ache at first. I’m taking paracetamol and I feel pretty good, “he said, and then said goodbye with a greeting that caused laughter from the audience.
The president also assured that, with his statement and his experience with the Ómicron variant, he wanted to demonstrate to the Mexicans that this variant “does not have the level of danger that the Delta variant does.”
His wife, the writer and researcher Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller, published on her Facebook profile that both she and their son are also in quarantine as a precaution.
New controversy over the president’s position on the virus
This second contagion has resulted in a new controversy for López Obrador, already controversial in advance due to his refusal to wear masks, his tours throughout the country and his eccentric statements in relation to Covid-19. Among them, in which he assured in July 2020, that he would put on a mask “when there is no corruption” or when he showed some stamps to stop the disease.
On this occasion, the controversy comes after having met this Monday with the press with clear symptoms of a cold. The president acknowledged having woke up hoarse, but minimized the symptoms claiming that it was a cold. Obrador had been in contact last week with Economy Secretary Tatiana Clouthier, who tested positive on Friday.
At the time, the Mexican president refused to take a test, despite the recommendation of the World Health Organization. Obrado claimed to have no symptoms.
More than 300,000 deaths in Mexico from Covid-19
The controversy comes in a country that already has 300,412 deaths and 4,136,440 infected by Covid-19 since the pandemic began, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University. With these data, Mexico ranks as the fifth most affected country in the world.
The Government insists on tranquility in the face of the Ómicron variant due to its less virulence than the previous ones. Despite this, Alejandro Macías, in charge of the AH1N1 flu pandemic in 2009, warns about the danger of feeling that the virus has already been mastered.
“What can reasonably be inferred from what we observe is that we have passed the worst stages of this pandemic, that does not mean that the virus is going to go away or that we are free of problems,” Macías told the EFE agency.
The concern now falls especially in unvaccinated people, who in Mexico City already account for 70% of the beds occupied in hospitals. Only 60% of Mexicans currently have the complete vaccination schedule.
With EFE and Reuters.
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