‘I’m now in good health,’ president says in video message

by Mexico News Daily

President López Obrador said Thursday that he had tested negative for Covid-19 but would have to wait a few more days before making a full return to public life.

“I’m very pleased to tell you that I did an antigen test this morning and I was negative. Of course I still have to wait a few more days but I’m now in good health, I’m recovering from Covid,” López Obrador said in a video message.

He thanked the Mexicans and foreigners who showed concern for his health, wished him well, prayed for him and sent him “blessings” and “good vibes” since he announced that he had tested positive for Covid-19 on Jan. 24.

Earlier on Thursday, López Obrador was filmed walking through a garden of the National Palace with two government officials. Contrary to his usual custom during the pandemic, he was wearing a face mask.

According to government officials who provided updates on his health during the past 11 days, the president – a former smoker with a history of high blood pressure who suffered a heart attack in 2013 – has only suffered mild symptoms of the infectious disease.

Interior Minister Olga Sánchez, who has stood in for López Obrador at the government’s morning news conferences, said Thursday that the president’s medical team will decide when he can return to his public activities, including the weekday pressers that have become a defining feature of his presidency.

Sánchez said earlier this week that AMLO, as the president is known, could return to the press conferences on Monday but on Thursday declined to confirm that would be the case.

“I don’t know how his doctors will assess him. I’d be very happy if he could return to the morning press conferences [on Monday] because he provides a very important personal touch, but it depends on his doctors,” she said.

Later on Thursday, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said the president will have to be given the all-clear from a medical and epidemiological point of view before returning to his full duties. His blood pressure and other health indicators will need to be under control and it will have to be established that the president can no longer transmit the virus, he said.

López Obrador is one of several world leaders who have contracted the coronavirus. Among them are former United States president Donald Trump, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Those three countries and Mexico are all in the top five for Covid-19 deaths. The odd country out is India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi has remained virus-free despite the country ranking second for case numbers and fourth for deaths.

Mexico’s confirmed case tally rose to just under 1.9 million on Thursday – the 13th highest total in the world – with 13,575 new cases reported. Covid-19 fatalities increased by 1,682 to 162,922, the third highest death toll after those of the United States and Brazil.

Source: El Universal (sp), Siete24 (sp) 

In other Mexico news:

Mexico City to remain red on stoplight but eases some restrictions

With hospital occupancy down, restaurants, shopping centers will see relaxed measures

Mexico City will remain maximum risk red on the coronavirus stoplight map next week but some restrictions will be eased.

Although hospitalizations of Covid-19 patients have trended down in recent days, Mexico City will remain red until at least Monday, February 15, the city government announced Friday.

Hospital occupancy in the capital, which has recorded almost half a million confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic and just under 30,000 deaths, is currently 78 percent, according to the Mexico City government. It had been close to 90 percent.

Although the red light designation will remain in place, department stores and shopping centers will be permitted to open around the clock as of Tuesday. However, their capacity will be limited to 20 percent of normal levels and shoppers and workers must wear masks.

Both department stores and shopping centers are required to close on Mondays and admission on other days should be limited to people shopping alone.

Restaurants will be permitted to open for an additional three hours as of next week, with the new closing time at 9 p.m. However, the requirement for restaurants to seat in-house diners in outdoor areas remains in place. Eateries with no outdoor dining space will remain limited to takeout and delivery service.

Also under the new rules, Monday replaces Sunday as the designated day of rest for businesses in the capital.

While tourism remains well below pre-pandemic levels, Mexico City’s tourist bus, “el Turibús,” will once again take sightseers around the streets of the capital as of next week. Tourists must sit on the open-air upper deck and wear a face mask while enjoying the sounds, sights and smells of the metropolis.

“There hasn’t been agreement between landlords and tenants, and because of the pandemic a lot of businesses have had to close,” he said.

Fuentes’ bill stipulates that rent would return to the normal level once the authorities declare that the coronavirus is no longer a threat. The bill was sent to Mexico City Congress committees for debate.

In other Covid news:

• Researchers at the University of Guadalajara are continuing to study four possible cases of a possible Mexican variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Natali Vega, head of an emerging diseases lab at the university, said that scientists are also looking at other cases detected in Jalisco over the past month to determine if any of those could be a new strain.

She said researchers are completing genetic sequencing work of the possible new strain and that results will be available within two weeks.

• Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard announced Friday that CanSino Biologics, a Chinese vaccine company, has made an application to health regulator Cofepris for emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine. He said on Twitter that the vaccine had been successfully administered to 14,425 volunteers in Mexico since last October.

“This vaccine is a single-dose vaccine and will be packaged in Querétaro. What good news!” Ebrard wrote.

If approved by Cofrepris, the CanSino vaccine will be the fourth to receive authorization in Mexico after the Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sputnik V shots.

• A paramedic dressed in her work clothes was attacked with bleach in an industrial area of Puebla city on Thursday. According to a report by Puebla digital newspaper Periódico Central, aggressors shouted “You’re infected!” at the young woman before dousing her with bleach.

The woman said on social media that the skin on her face was slightly irritated as a result of the attack. She posted a photo of her uniform, which sustained substantial damage.

There have been several reports of attacks against health workers in Mexico during the coronavirus pandemic, most of which occurred shortly after the virus was first detected here almost a year ago.

Source: El Financiero (sp), Reforma (sp)