French economy minister Bruno Le Maire announced Friday he has tested positive for COVID-19 but said he had no symptoms and was working from home as cases soared again in France.
Le Maire, who is responsible for reviving a French economy battered by the months-long pandemic, is not the first member of President Emmanuel Macron’s government to have been diagnosed with the disease.
“I tested positive for Covid-19 this evening. I immediately placed myself in isolation at home in line with the health regulations issued by the government,” Le Maire said in a tweet.
“I show no symptoms. I will remain in isolation for seven days. I continue to exercise my duties,” the 51-year-old minister said.
On March 9, the former culture minister and current minister for external trade, Franck Riester was diagnosed as having COVID-19.
The secretaries of state for ecological transition at the time, Brune Poirson and Emmanuelle Wargon, also tested positive for the disease two weeks later.
Early in September, Prime Minister Jean Castex placed himself in isolation in his Matignon office because he had been in contact with the director of the Tour de France cycling race, Christian Prudhomme, who had been infected.
But the premier ended his quarantine last week, following a negative result to his second test.
The country’s public health agency announced earlier that France recorded 13,215 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours — a new daily record since a widespread testing campaign was launched — and 123 deaths.
The number of deaths is rising for the first time since the end of lockdown in May.
