President Levits has contracted Covid-19 despite being fully vaccinated

RIGA - President Egils Levits has contracted Covid-19 despite having completed a full course of vaccination against the coronavirus, the president's spokeswoman Justine Deicmane informed LETA.

She said that today Levits took a PCT test, which confirmed the infection. The president's symptoms are light, the spokeswoman said.

The president's office said that under the circumstances, Romanian President Klaus Werner Iohannis has postponed his visit to Latvia, which was scheduled for October 15 and 16, and Levits' other arrangement have been cancelled as well. The president will continue to work remotely.

As Deicmane informed LETA, persons identified as the president's contacts include employees of the president's office who accompanied Levits on his working visits to Denmark and Sweden from October 12 to 13 and employees of the president's office who worked with Levits on October 11. 

Earlier, the president's office informed LETA that Levits took a rapid Covid-19 test after returning from a working visit to Sweden on Wednesday and the test returned positive. Today, Levits took a PCR test, which confirmed the infection.

The president's agenda for this week shows that this week Levits has been working with his advisors and visited Sweden where he attend the Malmo International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Anti-Semitism. During the visit, Levits along with leaders of other countries met with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven.

Levits also met with Zeljko Komisic who represents Croatia in the Trio Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Sefik Dzaferovic, a Bosnian Muslim representative, as well as visited the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law.

Levits was among the first Latvian officials to get immunized against Covid-19 at the beginning of this year. He received the first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine in mid-February and the second shot at the end of April.

Ex-president Valdis Zatlers, who was also vaccinated at the beginning of the year, got infected at the end of September.

Discussions on the necessity of a booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine has been debated in the government for some time already. From the beginning of October, third vaccine doses are available to seniors over 65 years of age.

Health Minister Daniels Pavluts (Development/For) said earlier that the third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine is recommended for persons over 65 years of age, as well as residents and staff of nursing homes. People who have completed the full course of vaccination can receive the booster dose six months after the second shot.