Lisbon, Jan 7 (IANS): Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is in self-isolation after coming into contact with a civil servant who tested positive for the novel coronavirus, an official statement said.
According to the statement issued by the presidential office on Wednesday, de Sousa "had contact last Monday" with a member of his staff "whose positive result for Covid-19 was known this morning", Xinhua news agency reported
A negative result for the president was expected since his contact with the infected individual was "very brief, very short and with a mask", a source told the Portuguese news agency Lusa.
De Sousa is running for re-election in the presidential poll on January 24.
Portugal has reported more than 437,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 7,286 deaths so far.