UN chief in self-isolation after contact with COVID-positive person

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been in self-isolation after coming in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, said Farhan Haq, his deputy spokesman.

“He has shown no symptoms and has initially tested negative. Out of an abundance of caution, he has canceled all his engagements and he will work from home until he is tested on Thursday, Dec. 9,” Haq wrote in a note to the UN press corps on Tuesday. The secretary-general was originally scheduled to participate in a high-level event for the UN Central Emergency Response Fund on Wednesday and was expected to speak at Thursday’s open debate of the Security Council on security in the context of terrorism and climate change. His scheduled attendance as a guest of honor at an annual gala of the UN Correspondents Association in downtown Manhattan on Wednesday night is also affected. Guterres, 72, was among the first New York residents to get vaccinated with his first shot in late January 2021 and a second one later on. He received a booster on Nov. 26.