After testing positive for the coronavirus last Sunday, Surinamese president Chan Santokhi has been declared healthy again.
His doctors have examined him and determined that he has no more complaints and has fully recovered. The authorities announced this via a press release on Sunday evening.
Although the president feels good, he continues to work from home for a few more days. This decision was made based on established prescriptions on how to deal with newly recovered Covid-19 patients. The intention is that Santokhi will perform his work in the usual way from Wednesday. Any urgent meetings will be handled online.
Surinamese society was kept informed by Santokhi himself about his health status last week. For example, he sent photos and videos from his home through various social media channels into the world, showing how he was working on his condition.
It is not yet clear whether other people near the president have been infected. Of Finance, Spatial Planning and Foreign Affairs, only three ministers announced last Monday that they had no Covid-19 among the members.
In October last year, Santokhi had to apologize to Surinamese society for not complying with the corona rules. Through photos on social media, it had become clear that the president, the vice president, some ministers and MPs were not so careful with the rules.
Ex-president Desi Bouterse also had to go through the dust last year when it became known that he had sat together with more than ten people and had not observed the five-foot distance. During the same period, four ministers from the Santokhi-Brunswijk government were found to be infected. Brunswick itself was a victim of the virus in July last year.