
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is "doing well" in self-imposed quarantine and awaiting further coronavirus testing after a first result came back negative, her spokesman said Monday, according to AFP.
Merkel decided to self-isolate as a precaution after learning on Sunday that a doctor who vaccinated her last Friday was infected with the novel coronavirus.
"The result of today's test was negative," her spokesman Steffen Seibert told DPA news agency.
He had earlier told reporters in the capital that Merkel "is doing well and working from home".
Further tests will follow in the coming days, said Seibert, since the initial test at such an early stage may not be conclusive.
In the meantime, the chancellor is getting on with the job from the comfort of her Berlin flat.
News that Merkel was going into quarantine came shortly after she gave a press conference in Berlin where she showed no symptoms of ill health.
She used the press conference to announce fresh curbs on social interactions to contain a pandemic that has infected over 22,600 people in Germany and killed 86.
The latest measures include a ban on gatherings of more than two people, on top of last week's closures of schools, non-essential shops, bars and restaurants.
The number of cases of coronavirus has sharply gone up in Europe in recent weeks, particularly in Italy which is now the epicenter of the outbreak and has surpassed China in the number of deaths.
In Britain, meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday ordered citizens to stay at home to halt the spread of coronavirus, imposing curbs on everyday life without precedent in peacetime.