FILE PHOTO: Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer departs after attending an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium, December 17, 2021. REUTERS/Johanna Geron/Pool
January 7, 2022
BERLIN (Reuters) -Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has tested positive for the coronavirus, the chancellery said on Friday, adding that he was in self-isolation and was not showing symptoms.
“There is no need to worry, I am fine and doing well,” the chancellery quoted Nehammer as saying.
The infection apparently occurred on Wednesday evening due to contact with a member of his security team, who tested positive on Thursday, the chancellery said in a statement.
Nehammer, a conservative who has been vaccinated three times, is conducting official business from home via video and telephone conferences and will not attend any public appointments in the next few days. Nehammer’s wife and children tested negative, the chancellery said.
The news came after Nehammer, 49, announced new measures on Thursday designed to curb the spread of the pandemic and pressed on with plans to make vaccinations mandatory from next month.
Austria managed to slash daily COVID-19 cases with another lockdown between November and December last year, but the Omicron variant is pushing the numbers up again.
(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa and Michael ShieldsEditing by Hans Seidenstuecker and Jonathan Oatis)
Source: One America News Network
