Mexico’s AMLO Resting After Catching Covid, Spokesman Says

(Bloomberg) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is resting and in isolation at the National Palace in Mexico City after testing positive for Covid-19, his spokesman said in an interview.

AMLO, as Lopez Obrador is known, had a slight fever on Sunday, the day he was diagnosed with the virus, but took a mild medication akin to paracetamol that brought down his temperature, spokesman Jesus Ramirez told Bloomberg News on Wednesday. The president has been holding calls with cabinet members, he said.

“He’s fine, calm, has mild symptoms, and is isolated and taking it easy in the Palace,” the spokesman said.

The president’s illness improved through Wednesday evening, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said at a press conference. His symptoms have remained minimal, with only brief episodes of fever. When pressed, AMLO did say he’d had a slight headache, Lopez-Gatell added. On Thursday morning, Interior Minister Olga Sanchez said he’s kept working, is making a recovery and will return to public life soon.

There is no public information available about whether the president is currently taking any medication, or what treatment he may be under, Ramirez said. The government’s health officials had said they wouldn’t reveal any clinical detail about the 67-year-old leader, who has history of hypertension and suffered a heart attack in 2013, to protect his privacy.

Read More: Mexico’s Lopez-Gatell Won’t Reveal Clinical Data on AMLO

Mexican officials have since offered vague statements about the health of the president, whose media absence is noticeable given his normally outsized presence in public life. AMLO holds a daily press conference that lasts as much as three hours and tweets many times a day. All of that has abruptly stopped, and his last appearance was in a photo snapped of him after a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday morning.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.