Mexican President Tests Positive for COVID-19 for Second Time

President of Mexico Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks as part of the daily briefing at Palacio Nacional in Mexico City, Mexico, on Dec. 16, 2021. Hector Vivas/Getty Images

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced on Monday he has tested positive for COVID-19 for a second time.

In a statement, he said that he has mild symptoms. He said he will “remain in isolation and will only do office work and communicate virtually” pending recovery.

“Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Interior, Adán Augusto López Hernández, will represent me at press conferences and other events,”the 68-year-old leader said on Twitter.

López Obrador sounded hoarse in his morning press conference earlier in the day, prompting reporters to inquire about his health.

He previously tested positive for COVID-19 in January 2021. At the time, he said his symptoms were mild.

López Obrador had his first booster dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in early December 2021. He received his first dose of AstraZeneca, a two-dose regimen, in April 2021.

Two of the president’s cabinet secretaries, the heads of the environment and economy departments, also announced they had tested positive in recent days.

COVID-19 has been confirmed in at least 300,000 deaths in Mexico since the start of 2020, when the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, also known as the novel coronavirus, spread from Wuhan to sweep the globe.

Little testing is done in the country of 126 million that a government review of death certificates puts the real death toll at almost 460,000.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country increased by 186 percent last week. This contributed to the cancelation of 260 flights between Jan. 6 and Jan. 10, after airline employees had to isolate after testing positive for the virus, causing staff shortages, the Mexican president said.

Since Christmas, Mexico’s private pharmacies and the few available testing centers have been overwhelmed by long lines.

Reading advice posted on Twitter, López Obrador told Mexicans on Monday that if they have symptoms, they should just stay at home, take paracetamol and isolate, rather than going out and trying to find tests. The Twitter advice drew on guidelines from authorities in Mexico City and other health authorities.

López Obrador’s administration has long refused to implement mass testing, calling it a waste of money. He called on companies not to require COVID-19 tests for employees.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.