French President Emmanuel Macron tests positive for coronavirus

French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for COVID-19 just days after holding meetings with European leaders.

French President Emmanuel Macron. Picture: AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for COVID-19 just days after holding a string of meetings with European leaders.

The Elysee Palace said Mr Macron had tested positive on Thursday after the “onset of the first symptoms”.

In accordance with national regulations, he will now “self-isolate for seven days. He will continue to work and carry out his activities remotely”.

Spain said its Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, was self-isolating after attending an OECD conference with Mr Macron in Paris on Monday, as was the president of the European Council, Charles Michel.

The French Prime Minister, Jean Castex, and the parliamentary Speaker, Richard Ferrand, were also in isolation, along with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who met Mr Macron for talks in Paris on Wednesday.

The French President is one of several national leaders to have contracted COVID-19, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President ­Donald Trump.

France earlier this week eased restrictions imposed to battle the second wave of the coronavirus but infection rates remain high.

There is still a nationwide overnight curfew from 8pm to halt the spread of the virus while restaurants and cafes as well as theatres and cinemas remain closed.

More than 59,300 people have died in France of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, according to official figures.

The recording of over 17,000 new cases on Wednesday alone has also generated concern as people shop and travel more ahead of the Christmas holidays.

Like other EU states, France is pinning its hopes on a vaccine to quell the virus and Mr Castex said on Wednesday the country would receive about 1.16 million COVID-19 vaccine doses by the end of the year.

Mr Castex said that the start of the vaccine campaign was conditional on approval from the European Medicines Agency, expected on December 21. “It is only at the end of spring that we will open the vaccination program to the entire population,” he added.

Another problem for the French authorities is that according to an opinion poll, only 53 per cent of people want to be vaccinated, among the lowest rates in the world.

Germany will begin vaccin­ations on December 27, its health minister said, detailing a timeline expected to be mirrored across the EU’s 27 member states.

The vaccination drive cannot come too soon for Europe, which is fast approaching 500,000 deaths from the ­disease.

Germany saw a record 952 deaths in 24 hours, according to the Robert Koch Institute disease control centre on Wednesday, a figure that could rise as the hard-hit Saxony region was not included in Tuesday’s numbers.

“It feels like a Sunday,” said Ines Kumpl, 57, observing the deserted streets of Berlin on the first day of a new partial lockdown. “These measures are necessary but it’s stressful.”

Denmark, Turkey and The Netherlands have all tightened coronavirus restrictions.

“To get to the end of the pandemic, we will need up to 70 per cent of the population vaccinated,” European Commission chief ­Ursula von der Leyen said. Pressure has been mounting on the bloc since Britain and the US started their programs, using a vaccine developed in the EU by Pfizer and BioNTech.

The World Health Organisation’s European wing warned of a resurgence of the virus on the continent early next year, urging special precautions over the holiday season.

Additional reporting: AFP