'Scratchy throat': Former US President Barack Obama tests positive for COVID-19
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According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 80 per cent of people in the United States have had at least one shot of the vaccine.
Former US President Barack Obama tested positive for mild coronavirus while tweeting that he suffered from "scratchy throat for a couple of days".
I just tested positive for COVID. I’ve had a scratchy throat for a couple days, but am feeling fine otherwise. Michelle and I are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted, and she has tested negative.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 13, 2022
It’s a reminder to get vaccinated if you haven’t already, even as cases go down.
"I just tested positive for COVID. I’ve had a scratchy throat for a couple of days, but am feeling fine otherwise," the US President said in a tweet adding that his wife Michelle Obama had tested negative for the virus.
"It's a reminder to get vaccinated if you haven’t already, even as cases go down," the US president reminded citizens. Obama including former US presidents Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton had appeared in a video earlier endorsing the US vaccination campaign.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 80 per cent of people in the United States have had at least one shot of the vaccine.
The daily coronavirus cases in the US has dropped dramatically with 35,000 COVID-19 cases per day recorded in mid-March compared to 810,000 cases per day in January.
WHO's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had earlier warned that the pandemic was "far from over" even as United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres said the pandemic could go on due to "scandalously unequal" vaccine distribution.
According to reports, the virus has killed over 6 million people worldwide however the WHO has said the actual death toll could be two to three times higher.
As the virus cases dropped in Europe, Austria moved to suspend mandatory vaccinations for all adults even as Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam said mandatory testing is not a priority in the country. Hong Kong on Sunday had reported 32,430 coronavirus cases amid a raging virus wave.
China continues to wrestle with the virus over two years after Wuhan first reported the virus case in December 2019.
Chinese authorities have put Shenzhen on lockdown amid an Omicron flare-up after cases were detected from Hong Kong as the city recorded 66 new infections on Sunday.
(With inputs from Agecies)