The vice president of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez.
The Vice President of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez, announced this Friday through a series of messages on her Twitter account that she has tested positive for coronavirus and that she proceeds to quarantine herself.
Ramírez and the president, Iván Duque, were preparing to travel to a summit of governors in the city of Manizales, in the center of the country, when it received the proof that confirmed the contagion.
"I am in good health fulfilling the corresponding isolation," Ramírez, 66, wrote on his social networks.
"I reiterate the call to Colombians not to lower their guard and to abide by biosafety measures, since the pandemic is a reality, which can affect us all," added the Minister of Defense during the Álvaro Uribe government.
Ramírez is the first woman in Colombia to hold both the vice presidency and the Defense portfolio.
Yesterday I took the # COVID19 test, since I had planned to travel to the Governors Summit in Manizales.
He informed the Colombians that the result was positive.
Thank God, I am in good health complying with the corresponding isolation.
- Marta Lucía Ramírez (@mluciaramirez) October 23, 2020
The vice president, who according to her office has no symptoms, has shared two public events with Duque this week.
On Monday he was on
Prevention and Action
,
the president's daily television program dedicated to the health crisis.
And on Thursday, before his contagion was confirmed, at the signing of a law to expand the Program for Support to Formal Employment (PAEF, in government jargon) at the Casa de Nariño, the seat of Government.
In the photos distributed by the presidency, he is seen wearing a mask.
President Duque, 44, has tested negative in several
routine
tests
over recent months, as reported at the time by the Administrative Department of the Presidency of the Republic (DAPRE).
The president underwent his first public knowledge test after returning from a trip to Washington, where he was at a forum attended by infected people.
Also after a meeting with mayors and governors in March in the Casa de Nariño, where the mayor of Popayán attended, who was infected by the virus.
And on a third occasion at the end of May, after 13 positive cases were confirmed in the presidency of the Republic: five of people linked to DAPRE and eight to the protection scheme of the House of Nariño.