Several Europe Leaders Infected With COVID-19 As Cases Surge
By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – The Polish president is among European leaders infected with COVID-19 as the continent struggles to contain the coronavirus.
Andrzej Duda contracted COVID-19 in recent days, his presidential minister confirmed. The 48-year-old Duda reportedly feels “fine” after testing positive Friday for the virus.
He joins several world leaders who have caught the virus, including U.S. President Donald Trump and Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Duda’s diagnosis comes amid what health authorities view as a massive surge in COVID-19 cases and related deaths in Poland, a nation that saw low numbers in the spring.
The increased infection rates are pushing the country’s strained health system to the breaking point. Poland’s government announced the opening of open field hospitals, but it wasn’t sure where it would find enough doctors and nurses to staff them.
On Friday, President Duda visited the National Stadium in Warsaw, transforming into one of the field hospitals. He also met Friday Iga Swiatek, the 19-year-old Polish tennis player who won the French Open earlier this month.
WEARING MASKS
Duda and the Swiateks wore masks and gloves but stood very close and shook hands as the president pinned the awards on them. Iga Swiatek later said that she and others on her team have no symptoms but would go into quarantine. She stressed that they are tested regularly and would be tested again in three days.
Besides the Polish president, other government officials have contracted the virus in Central and Eastern Europe. On Saturday, news emerged that Slovenia’s Foreign Minister Anze Logar tested positive for the coronavirus as the government shut down non-essential shops, kindergartens, and hotels to try to halt the latest outbreak.
The Foreign Ministry said Logar displayed no symptoms and is self-isolating in the next ten days. Logar toured the Baltics earlier this week and attended a European Union foreign ministers session in Luxembourg earlier this month. He is the highest-ranking Slovenian official to have contracted the virus.
Slovenia has faced a surge in new cases that have soared beyond 1,500 infections per day in the country of 2 million people, and authorities have already imposed an overnight curfew. Earlier this week in Hungary, Justice Minister Judit Varga announced that she had tested positive for COVID-19 and has mild respiratory symptoms.
Further away in Belgium, the foreign minister and ex-prime minister, Sophie Wilmes, has been hospitalized in intensive care after becoming infected by the coronavirus last week. A spokesperson described her condition as “stable.”
BADLY HIT
Belgium has been badly hit by the pandemic, with authorities reporting more than 10,000 people from a population of 11.5 million dying from coronavirus-related causes.
In Italy, where the pandemic first emerged in Europe, overnight curfews have been introduced in the three most populous regions. They include Lombardy around Milan, Lazio, around Rome, and Campania around Naples. “The situation isn’t great. It is worrying, very worrying,” an elderly mask-wearing Italian man said. “I hope for the best, but it doesn’t look good.”
Several other European countries introduced curfews, including Slovenia, France, and Belgium. Spain, the first European Union nation to report 1 million infections, postponed introducing curfews. Salvador Illa said: “The regional governments expressed their opinion about curfews, but we have not reached a consensus on this. And so we will be working on this measure in future meetings.”
After Spain, France also recorded 1 million infections. Across the continent, stricter measures such as curfews and closing bars and restaurants aim to avoid a full lockdown.
But stay at home orders are already introduced in European Union nations Ireland and the Czech Republic, despite fears that could further strain economies.
Amid the outbreaks, some European nations are already seeking help from other countries. The Netherlands, for instance, has already begun airlifting patients to Germany amid a virus surge.
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