Barack Obama tests positive for Covid as US cases plummet
Barack Obama has announced he has tested positive for Covid.
The former president, 60, has a ‘scratchy throat’ but no other symptoms, he said tonight.
‘I just tested positive for COVID’, a Twitter post read. ‘I’ve had a scratchy throat for a couple days, but am feeling fine otherwise.
‘Michelle and I are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted, and she has tested negative.’
He added: ‘It’s a reminder to get vaccinated if you haven’t already, even as cases go down.’
The news comes as Covid restrictions relax in the US amid falling infection numbers.
There were around 35,000 cases reported on average over the past week.
This is a sharp decline from mid-January when the average was verging on 800,000.
Mr Obama gave no indication on whether his daughters, Malia, 23, and Sasha, 20, have tested for the virus – but both are at college so are unlikely to be with their parents.
The former leader previously confirmed both he and his wife had got vaccinated.
‘We know it’s the best way to beat this pandemic, protect one another, and get the country back up and running again’, he said in March 2021.
The dad-of-two faced criticism last year when he reportedly ‘invited hundreds’ to his 60th birthday party amid the pandemic.
George Clooney, Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey were all rumoured to be on the guest list.
But he was eventually forced to scale it back as the Delta coronavirus variant hit.
His spokesperson previously said the outdoor event was planned months before ‘in accordance with all public health guidelines’.
The 44th American president recently condemned Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine – days after his successor Donald Trump named the Russian president a ‘genius’.
Mr Obama accused the Kremlin of launching ‘a brazen attack on the people of Ukraine, in violation of international law and basic principles of human decency’.
He added: ‘Russia did so not because Ukraine posed a threat to Russia, but because the people of Ukraine chose a path of sovereignty, self-determination, and democracy
‘For exercising rights that should be available to all people and nations, Ukrainians now face a brutal onslaught that is killing innocents and displacing untold numbers of men, women, and children.’
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