Prime Minister of Slovakia Igor Matovič tests positive for COVID-19

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Monday, December 21, 2020

Prime Minister Igor Matovič of the Slovak Republic posted a message on Facebook on Friday announcing he had tested positive for COVID-19, and intended to isolate for ten days. This comes a week after he attended a summit with President of France Emmanuel Macron, who was later diagnosed with the disease and which led to contact tracing across Europe and multiple leaders voluntarily self-isolating.

File photo of Prime Minister Igor Matovič, May 2020. (Image: Televízia JOJ)

European leaders self-isolating from the incident included the Prime Ministers of Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, and France itself, and European Council chief Charles Michel.

Without mentioning any symptoms, 47-year-old Matovič's government office has said he has cancelled all near upcoming events, and self-quarantine announcements quickly followed by government ministers who attended an official meeting with the Prime Minister two days earlier. During that meeting, it was agreed a partial lockdown would be instated on Saturday in response to increasing number of infections amongst the nation's 5.5 million people.

Council spokesperson Barend Leyts, when asked whether an investigation was conducted to see who else at the summit may have caught COVID-19, told Brussels-based media network EURACTIV safety procedure had been followed and only Macron and Matovič were known to have tested positive.

After Deputy Prime Minister for Finance and Minister of Economy Richard Sulík failed to procure sufficient numbers of rapid testing kits, the Prime Minister apologised to the people of his country for "having an idiot as economy minister."


Sources