Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei attends an event in February LUIS ECHEVERRIA / Reuters
The president of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, reported this Friday that he has contracted covid-19 and is stable, although with some symptoms.
The Guatemalan president, a 64-year-old retired doctor and surgeon, has confirmed the information to a local radio station and has said that he will give more details in the coming hours.
Giammattei has said that he has carried out five tests in recent months, until this Thursday he has tested positive.
The ruler has assured that he is "very well", but that in his message he will explain "each of the symptoms" that he has.
"I think that this will help many people to understand the disease more and how we can attack it quickly, in a very simple way," he said.
Specifically, he has said that he is going to detail the situation of his blood oxygen levels and how he is going to proceed to "maintain control, isolated in videoconferences and taking out the newspaper stationery."
The president later said on another local radio station that all the ministers of state who participated with him in the independence acts of September 15 and 16 will be subjected to tests.
The Ministry of Social Communication of the Presidency has issued a statement in which it has confirmed that Giammattei "will continue with its activities and work for the benefit of the country, and will do so by taking the necessary measures to safeguard his health", therefore " it will be isolating itself from all public activity ”and“ communication will be carried out at a distance ”.
The president has called on the population to continue with the “responsible use” of the mask, hand washing, social distancing and other health protocols to avoid contagion. "And he has put his example to illustrate that all Guatemalans they are "exposed to the virus."
Guatemala has recorded 84,344 positive cases of coronavirus since last March 13, the Government made public the first infection of a patient from Europe.
Of the total positive cases, 3,076 people have died from complications derived from the infection.
Precisely this Friday the main airport of the country, La Aurora, has opened after more than six months closed.
The resumption of activities at the air terminal and at all the country's borders, both land and sea, is part of the reopening of the country ordered on July 27 by Giammattei.
These measures represent the end of the confinement that began on March 15 and the restart of activities in restaurants, shopping centers, churches and public transport.