Mexico’s Finance Minister Arturo Herrera revealed on Thursday he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, just three days after he met with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
“I have very minor symptoms. From now on, I will be in quarantine and will keep working from home,” Herrera wrote on Twitter.
Herrera was in the office of Lopez Obrador alongside Interior Minister Olga Sanchez and other public servants in a meeting on Monday to announce new government appointees.
After the meeting, the president published a video on social media in which Herrera could be seen by his side.
While the meeting participants kept apart from each other, those distances were less than the meter and a half recommended by health experts to avoid passing on the virus.
Neither the president nor Herrera was wearing a face mask.
Herrera also participated in a meeting with two more ministers on Tuesday.
However, he’s not the first high ranking official in Lopez Obrador’s government to have tested positive for the virus shortly after meeting with the president.
On June 7, Social Security Director Zoe Robledo revealed she had tested positive two days after accompanying Lopez Obrador at a press conference.
The next day, Lopez Obrador told reporters he was in good health and would not be taking a test.
Mexico has registered the second largest number of coronavirus cases in Latin America with almost 197,000, alongside more than 24,000 deaths from COVID-19 amongst a population of 127 million.
(AFP)
