CARACAS (AP) – Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó announced on Saturday that he tested positive for COVID-19 and that he has mild symptoms.
“I want to responsibly inform the country that, after four days of quarantine as a result of some discomforts and despite having taken precautions, I have tested positive for COVID-19,” Guaidó said Saturday night through his Twitter account.
“I must say that my symptoms are mild, I am already in isolation and following medical indications to recover and fulfill my duty,” he said.
“After knowing the results, I have informed all the people with whom I was in contact,” said Guaidó, who as president of the previous National Assembly – who ceased his functions on January 5 – declared himself interim president of the country in 2019 .
The United States and 60 other countries recognized him as the legitimate ruler of Venezuela in place of Nicolás Maduro, arguing that Maduro’s re-election in 2018 was fraudulent.
“I also want to show solidarity with the thousands of Venezuelans who are suffering from the pandemic and send them an accompanying hug. Today we all have a family member or acquaintance affected by COVID-19 ”, highlighted the opponent, alluding to the spike in infections that Venezuela is going through.
On March 21, Maduro suspended until April 4 at least the quarantine relaxation scheme that he imposed in June to stop the chain of infections at a time when there is a rebound in COVID-19 cases.
The president warned that the increase in positive cases is linked in particular to the presence in the country of the new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, known as P1 and P2 and which were detected in Brazil.
Since June 1, the Maduro government has applied flexibilization slots for the partial reactivation of economic, commercial and financial activities at continuous seven-day intervals in more than 50 sectors, followed by a return to the “radical quarantine” in the next seven days.
In Venezuela – where the coronavirus has not hit as hard as in other South American countries – there are 1,555 deaths and more than 155,600 positive cases, 9,175 of them in the last 14 days.
The Maduro government, citing successes in curbing infections, had steadily relaxed the quarantine adopted on March 16, 2020, three days after confirming the first two cases of coronavirus in Venezuela.
