Austrian Chancellor Nehammer tests positive for COVID

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer's office says he has tested positive for the coronavirus after apparently being infected by a member of his security team

Virus Outbreak Austria (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday after apparently being infected by a member of his security team, his office said.

The chancellery said that Nehammer currently has no symptoms and is working from quarantine at home. It said that he has received three vaccine shots, and that his wife and children tested negative.

“There is no reason for concern — I am doing well,” the chancellery quoted Nehammer as saying in a statement. “My appeal is still: go get vaccinated, get a booster — that will protect you with high probability against serious illness.”

Nehammer, who had tested negative on Wednesday, appears to have been infected on Wednesday evening by a member of his security team who later tested positive. On Thursday, the chancellor participated in a meeting at which officials decided to tighten restrictions, then attended a news conference.

The chancellery said that he wore a protective FFP2 mask throughout the meeting, but everyone who was in contact with him has been contacted. It said participants at the news conference were separated by plexiglass screens and that he was at a sufficient distance from journalists, who were all wearing FFP2 masks.

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