Sawt Falasteen - Mexico president says he's beaten Covid for second time

Lopez Obrador said that he was no longer infected and his symptoms had been milder -- and his recovery quicker -- than with his first coronavirus infection last year.

"It is demonstrable that this variant does not have the same severity as the previous one, the Delta variant," he told reporters, nearly a week after announcing he had caught Covid-19 again.

"What also helps a lot is the vaccine, getting vaccinated and not missing the booster shot," he added.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week that while the highly contagious Omicron variant "causes less severe disease than Delta, it remains a dangerous virus -- particularly for those who are unvaccinated."

Mexico's 68-year-old president, who has rarely worn a face mask during the pandemic, overcame a first bout of Covid-19 in early 2021.

He has since received two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as well as a booster.

Mexico's official Covid-19 death toll of more than 300,000 is the fifth-highest in the world, although daily fatalities are now far lower than the peaks of previous waves.

The country of 126 million people has reported a total of more than 4.1 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

The real figure is believed to be much higher due to the low level of testing.

On Saturday, the country counted a record 47,113 new cases in one day, according to official figures.

B.AbuZeid--SF-PST