(Mexico City) Mexico’s President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, announced Monday amid an epidemic recovery that he had contracted COVID-19 for the second time, drawing criticism from opponents who called it “irresponsible” for appearing so morning in public without a mask.
“I am infected with COVID-19 and even if symptoms are mild, I will remain in isolation, will only do office work and will communicate by default,” the head of state, who received a dose of reinforcements in December, said on Twitter.
He announced in a hoarse voice during his morning press conference that he intended to get tested for the coronavirus even if he thought he had the flu.
As usual, he was not wearing a mask, which sparked many criticisms among the thousands of reactions to the announcement of his positive result.
“I hope he recovers soon. What he did this morning, to reunite with other people without masks, is an irresponsible act. Since last week, he has been in contact with positive cases,” said opposition MP Jorge Alvarez Mainez.
“If he becomes seriously ill, he will have the best doctors in his service. Political analyst Viri Rios added in a message shared hundreds of times, also calling the president “irresponsible,” on the other hand, many journalists in the public do not even have social security .
Other messages wished a speedy recovery for the Mexican president, who had already contracted the coronavirus in January 2021 and also experienced mild symptoms there.
Mr. Lopez Obrador received the AstraZeneca vaccine last year as well as a booster dose on December 7.
Mexico, in absolute terms, ranks fifth among the most affected countries in the world with 300,412 deaths compared to 4.1 million cases since March 2020, according to official figures.
After three months of calm and normalcy, the epidemic has spread again with the now-prevalent variant Omicron. Mexico recorded a record number of cases in one day (more than 30,000) on Saturday.
The left-wing government acknowledged the epidemic’s recovery but refused to suspend activities because hospitalization and deaths had been brought under control.
The seventh most visited tourist country in the world, Mexico is keeping its borders wide open, without requiring a passport for a vaccine or negative testing from travelers from abroad.
