France's Macron tests positive for COVID-19

French President Emmanuel Macron is to go into isolation for a week after being diagnosed with COVID-19, the Elysee Palace has announced.

No more details of his condition have been released but he will continue to conduct government business remotely. His planned visit to Lebanon next Tuesday has been canceled.

Macron hosted a cabinet meeting on Wednesday as well as having a working lunch with Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa. On Monday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and European Council President Charles Michel were also at the palace.

As a consequence, Sanchez's office has confirmed that he too will go into quarantine until Dec 24.

Earlier this week, France began to lift national lockdown restrictions imposed to deal with the second wave of infections, but a nighttime curfew is still in force. This has closed restaurants and entertainment venues, and the infection level remains high.

By Thursday, France had more than 2.4 million COVID-19 cases, with over 59,400 deaths, Johns Hopkins University data showed.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Wednesday the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that is already being deployed in the United Kingdom could start to be used in France by the last week of December, provided it is approved by the European Medicines Agency, which has brought forward a meeting on the topic to Dec 21 from Dec 29.

France has preordered 200 million doses, Castex added.

Once approved, the plan is for the vaccine to be given to around one million people in nursing homes in January and February, with around 14 to 15 million other people being vaccinated in subsequent months.

As a result of having had contact with Macron, Castex will begin a period of isolation. Castex would not go to the French Senate on Thursday to outline the government's vaccine strategy to combat the virus, media reports quoted his office in a statement as saying.

Macron joins United States President Donald Trump, Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as world leaders who have been treated for the virus.

The European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier also tested positive early in the pandemic, and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel was forced into isolation after her doctor caught it.