Barack Obama former US President tests COVID-19 positive

Former US President Barack Obama has said he tested positive for the coronavirus, though he's feeling relatively healthy and his wife, Michelle, tested negative.

"I've had a scratchy throat for a couple days, but am feeling fine otherwise," Obama said on Twitter on Sunday. "Michelle and I are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted." Obama encouraged more Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, despite the declining infection rate in the US. There were roughly 35,000 infections on average over the past



week, down sharply from mid-January when that average was closer to 8,00,000.

He also wrote that he and his wife, Michelle, “are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted, and she has tested negative”.

“It’s a reminder to get vaccinated if you haven’t already, even as cases go down,” the former US president added.

The US has reported more than 79 million Covid-19 infections and about 967,000 deaths as of Sunday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University data.