LISBON, Portugal — The office of Portugal’s 71-year-old president said Sunday that he has canceled all public activities and will stay at home amid the coronavirus outbreak.
FILE – In this Sunday, July 14, 2019 file photo, Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa leaves after a lunch at the Elysee Palace that followed Bastille Day parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris. The office of Portugal’s 71-year-old president said Sunday March 8, 2020 that he has canceled all public activities and will stay at home amid the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu, File)
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa recently received a group of students from a school which has since been closed following the detection of a student with COVID-19.
His office said that the president had no symptoms. It added that the infected student wasn’t included in the group that visited the presidential palace.
His office said that he decided to self-isolate “to provide an example of taking preventative measures while continuing to work at home.”
The president’s office specified that although he took photos with the group of students, he didn’t greet them individually. Rebelo de Sousa is known as being an effusive and affectionate president who is extremely popular in Portugal.
Portugal has recorded 25 coronavirus cases and no deaths.