Mexican president Manuel López Obrador says he has Covid-19 for second time

Mexico's president announced on Monday he has come down with COVID-19 a second time, as coronavirus infections spike in Mexico and virus tests become scarce.

President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador wrote that he tested positive, after he had sounded hoarse at a morning news briefing. He contracted COVID-19 and recovered from it the first time in early 2021.

Even though the symptoms are light, I will remain isolated and only work from the office and hold on-line meetings until further notice, the president wrote in his social media accounts.

In the meantime, Interior Secretary Adn Augusto Lpez Hernndez will take over for me at press conferences and other events.

Two of the president's Cabinet secretaries, the heads of the Environment and Economy departments, announced they had tested positive in recent days.

Earlier on in the day, the president told Mexicans to just assume they had COVID-19 if they had symptoms. The number of confirmed cases spiked by 186 per cent last week.

Lpez Obrador claimed the Omicron variant is a little COVID, noting hospitalisations and deaths had not increased at the same rate.

However, experts say those are both lagging indicators that may not show up for weeks after infections spike.

Reading advice posted on Twitter, the president said Mexicans with symptoms should just stay at home, take paracetamol and isolate, rather than going out and trying to find tests.

Since Christmas, private pharmacies and the few available testing centres have been overwhelmed by long lines. The Twitter advice drew on guidelines from Mexico City and other health authorities.

Lpez Obrador's administration has long refused to implement mass testing, calling it a waste of money. He called on companies not to require Covid tests for employees.

Mexico passed 3,00,000 test-confirmed coronavirus deaths last week, but so little testing is done in the country of 126 million that a government review of death certificates puts the real toll at almost 4,60,000.

The virus spike was largely responsible for the cancellation of 260 flights between January 6 and January 10, the president said, as airline employees got infected and had to isolate, causing staff shortages.