Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he is recovering from the coronavirus.
Lopez Obrador revealed the diagnosis in a Sunday tweet. The leader has previously faced criticism for not always wearing face masks and for how his administration has handled the pandemic.
“I regret to inform you that I am infected with COVID-19,” he said. “The symptoms are mild but I am already under medical treatment. As always, I am optimistic. We will all move forward.”
The 67-year-old suffers from high blood pressure and has undergone surgery for a heart attack in the past. Despite the risk factors, Jose Luis Alomia Zegarra, Mexico’s director of epidemiology, characterized the president’s case as “light” and said he would be “isolating at home.”
The president said that during his recovery, Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero would be taking over his daily briefings.
During the pandemic, he has been known for resisting calls for mass lockdowns, citing potential economic harm in doing so. He has also frequently not worn masks in public, and last week, he posted a photo of himself, the country’s foreign minister, and a former chief of staff huddled around a table talking on the phone with President Biden, sans masks.
Several other leaders have contracted and recovered from COVID-19, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Mexico has tallied more than 1.7 million cases of COVID-19, resulting in nearly 150,000 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic began.
