France president Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for COVID-19, the presidential Elysee Palace announced on Thursday.
The Elysee statement said that the president took a test “as soon as the first symptoms appeared,” but did not elaborate on his symptoms.
The president will self-isolate for seven days. “He will continue to work and take care of his activities at a distance,” the statement added.
France has recorded more than 2.4 million cases of coronavirus with some 59,000 deaths. The French public could start receiving Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine by the end of December if the European Union apprives it next week, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Wednesday.
France has pre-ordered 200 million doses of coronavirus vaccines, Castex added. Macron recently said in interview with the digital-native French media outlet Brut that he believe compulsory vaccination would be counter-productive. “We don’t face off defiance with an obligation,” said Macron about his skepticism towards compulsory vaccination practices. “We don’t know everything about this vaccine like we don’t know everything about this virus,” said the French president.
Meanwhile, the country’s chief scientific advisor has called for caution. Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, president of le Conseil Scientifique, told the Le Parisien newspaper that it would take several months for the vaccine to have a positive impact.
“We must continue to be extremely careful for three to six months still,” Delfraissy said. “Science is moving forwards – silently – but it is moving forwards.”
The country has been on partial lockdown since Oct. 30 with theaters, restaurants, bars and concert halls closed. The reopening of theaters and concert halls had been set for Dec. 15 but the French government just announced that it could not happened before Jan. 7, sparking uproar within the country’s culture sector. French film and exhibitors guilds have appealed the government’s decision to reopen at the end of the month. Restaurants and bars are expected to reopen on Jan. 20 or later.