
FILE – In this Dec.14, 2020 file photo, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, left, welcomes OECD’s Secretary General Angel Gurria for a working lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Macron’s aides have scrambled to contact all the people he had been near in recent days. The French health minister suggested that he might have been infected at an EU summit in Brussels last week, but Macron had multiple meetings in Paris as well. Emmanuel Macron’s positive test comes as French health authorities are again seeing a rise in infections and warning of more as French families prepare to get together for Christmas and New Year festivities.

FILE – In this Jan.19, 2014 file photo, the official residence La Lanterne, is pictured in Versailles, west of Paris. As French President Emmanuel Macron, who was positive for COVID-19, rides out the coronavirus in a presidential retreat at La Lanterne in Versailles, French doctors are warning families who are heading for the holidays to remain cautious – especially at the dinner table.

French President Emmanuel Macron is seen on a screen as he attends by video conference a round table for the National Humanitarian Conference (NHC), taken at the Foreign Ministry in Paris,Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday following a week in which he met with numerous European leaders.

La Lanterne, a presidential residence in Versailles, outside Paris, is pictured Friday, Dec. 18, 2020 in Paris. As French President Emmanuel Macron rides out the coronavirus in a presidential retreat at Versailles, French doctors are warning families who are heading for the holidays to remain cautious because of an uptick in infections — especially at the dinner table.

French President Emmanuel Macron, center, is seen on a screen as he attends by video conference a round table for the National Humanitarian Conference (NHC), taken at the Foreign Ministry in Paris,Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday following a week in which he met with numerous European leaders.

French President Emmanuel Macron is seen on a screen as he attends by video conference a round table for the National Humanitarian Conference (NHC), taken at the Foreign Ministry in Paris,Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday following a week in which he met with numerous European leaders. The French and Spanish prime ministers and EU Council president were among many top officials self-isolating because they had recent contact with him.

Police officers guard La Lanterne, a presidential residence in Versailles, outside Paris, Friday, Dec. 18, 2020 in Paris. As French President Emmanuel Macron rides out the coronavirus in a presidential retreat at Versailles, French doctors are warning families who are heading for the holidays to remain cautious because of an uptick in infections — especially at the dinner table.

FILE – In this Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020 file photo, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Igor Matovic arrives for an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels. Matovic has become another leader of a European Union country who tested positive for the coronavirus. The announcement on Friday, Dec. 18, 2020 came a day after French President Emmanuel Macron was also tested positive. Both leaders attended an EU summit in Brussels last week.
PARIS (AP) — As French President Emmanuel Macron rides out the coronavirus in a presidential retreat at Versailles, critics on Friday called out slip-ups in his virus-prevention behavior, from a close-quarters handshake to repeated big-group meals over the past week.
A fellow European leader who spent time with Macron at an EU summit last week, Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic, tested positive for the virus Friday. Some other leaders present at the summit reported testing negative, while some were not getting tested and others haven’t yet announced results from their tests.
In France, Macron faced criticism for actions that were seen as setting a bad example as the country sees a new uptick in confirmed cases and doctors warn families to take precautions this holiday season — especially at the dinner table.
While Macron usually wears a mask and adheres to social distancing rules, and has insisted that his virus strategy is driven by science, the 42-year-old president has been captured on camera in recent days violating France’s own guidelines.
He shook hands and half-embraced the head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Angel Gurria, at a meeting Monday. Both were masked, but Macron’s office acknowledged Friday the move was a “mistake.”
Last week, Macron spent two days in intense negotiations at an EU summit in Brussels with the leaders of the other 26 EU countries. Video excerpts released by the EU showed the leaders spread out in a circle in a huge meeting room — Macron, and most of the other leaders, were not masked.
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