South African President Cyril Ramaphosa tested positive for Covid-19 on December 12, 2021 and began treatment. The 69-year-old suffers from mild symptoms of the disease, according to the statement from the South African presidency. “The president, who is fully vaccinated, has isolated himself in Cape Town and has delegated all his responsibilities to Vice-President David Mabuza for next week,” specifies the text.
The South African leader began to feel “wrong” after leaving, on December 12, the official ceremony in tribute to former President Frederik de Klerk, who died last month. The head of state wore a black mask during the ceremony which gathered around 200 people in a church in Cape Town, except when he delivered the eulogy.
People who have been in contact with President Ramaphosa have been advised to watch for symptoms or to get tested. The South African leader also recently visited four West African countries, during which he underwent regular tests. When he returned to South Africa on December 8, he had tested negative, the presidency said. The Head of State is followed by the army health services.
Since the discovery of his infection, President Ramaphosa has continued to encourage his compatriots to be vaccinated. After the press release from the presidency in which he said he wanted his own contamination “serves as a warning to all inhabitants of the country to get vaccinated and remain vigilant to any exposure” virus, he again posted a tweet on December 13 where he reiterated his message while thanking his compatriots for their support.
Thank you, fellow South Africans, for your good wishes following my COVID-19 positive result.
As I recover, my message of the week is: don’t let your guard down. Do everything you can and need to, to stay safe, beginning with vaccination.
– Cyril Ramaphosa (@CyrilRamaphosa) December 13, 2021
(Thank you, fellow South Africans, for your good wishes following my positive Covid-19 test result. As I recover, my message for the week is: don’t let your guard down. Do all you can and must do to stay safe, starting with vaccination.)
Just over a quarter of South Africans have been fully immunized to date. Cyril Ramaphosa, who held the rotating presidency of the African Union when the pandemic broke out and who has since been the Pan-African organization’s Champion in the fight against Covid-19, has always been at the forefront of the battle engaged against disease on the continent. By evoking a “vaccine apartheid”, he was the first to officially denounce the inequality of access to vaccines suffered by Africans who live on the continent where the population is the least vaccinated in the world.
So far, no information has been released as to whether President Ramaphosa has been infected with the new Omicron variant detected last month in South Africa. Omicron is now the source of the vast majority of contaminations in the southern African country, which has seen an exponential increase in cases since its appearance. Hospitalizations, however, remain fairly low. South Africa is officially the African country most affected by the pandemic. The country has more than 3.1 million cases and the Covid-19 has already killed more than 90,000.