Prime Minister Bettel tests positive for coronavirus

Prime Minister Xavier Bettel - freshly returned from a summit of EU leaders in Brussels last week - tested positive for the coronavirus despite having received the first dose of the AztraZeneca vaccine, the government said on Sunday.

Bettel will continue to work remotely as he remains in isolation for a period of 10 days, the government said.

“The Prime Minister has mild symptoms, with fever and headache,” the government said. Bettel first got a positive result after taking a self-test, which was later confirmed with a more reliable PCR test. 

According to the Luxembourg vaccination programme, Bettel had been due to receive the second shot of the vaccine after eight weeks, on 1 July.

Bettel stole the limelight at a meeting of EU political leaders last week, using a highly personal account of his struggle as an adolescent to get his family to accept his homosexuality to condemn a homophobic law Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is planning to introduce in his country.

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