French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for COVID-19, his office said in statement yesterday.
Macron was tested after showing mild symptoms of the disease, and would isolate for seven days and continue to work, the statement said.
An official at the Elysee Palace declined to provide details on the circumstances of the infection or where the president would be isolating.
Photo: Reuters
The diagnosis comes at a particularly sensitive time for Macron. France is struggling to tame the pandemic, with the president fielding unrelenting criticism of his handling of the crisis and the economic fallout.
Macron is the third leader of a G7 nation to contract COVID-19, after US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Also yesterday, the WHO told a news conference that Beijing would welcome an international team of COVID-19 investigators led by the global health organization that is scheduled to visit China next month.
China has strongly opposed calls for an international inquiry into the origins of COVID-19, saying that such calls are anti-China, but has been open to a WHO-led investigation.
“The WHO continues to contact China, and to discuss the international team and the places they visit,” said Babatunde Olowokure, the WHO’s regional emergencies director in the Western Pacific. “Our understanding at this time is that China is welcoming the international team and their visit... This is anticipated, as far as we are aware, to happen in early January.”
A team of 12 to 15 international experts is preparing to go to Wuhan to examine evidence, including human and animal samples collected by Chinese researchers.
Thea Fischer, a Danish member, said the team would leave “just after New Year’s” for a six-week mission, including a two-week quarantine upon arrival.
A similar, but not identical virus was identified in a horseshoe bat, indicating that it was transmitted first to an animal, or intermediate host, before infecting humans, Keith Hamilton, an expert at the World Organization for Animal Health who is to take part, told reporters on Tuesday.
“When we are doing animal surveillance, it’s difficult. It’s rather like looking for a needle in a haystack,” he said.
Some Western countries have voiced concern at the delay in sending international experts.
One senior Western diplomat complained of a lack of transparency while experts were not on the ground talking to clinicians and researchers or inspecting lab samples.
However, another Western diplomat said that the mission was on a “good footing” and that the WHO had to accept China’s terms to secure access.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
RSS