President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has tested positive for the coronavirus, he announced on Twitter Saturday, two days after a visit to Ukraine during which he met with that country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Erdogan said he and his wife, Emine Erdogan, had been tested after experiencing mild symptoms and learned that they were infected with the omicron variant.
“We will continue our work at home,” he added. “We look forward to your prayers.”
Erdogan, his wife and several Turkish ministers and journalists visited Kyiv on Thursday. There, the president announced a deal to provide weapons and diplomatic support to Ukraine, which has for weeks been the focus of international efforts to avert a threatened Russian invasion.
The visit was mostly a show of support for Zelenskyy’s government, but the Turkish leader also offered to play a mediating role between Russia and Ukraine. During the visit, Erdogan observed a parade on the grounds of the Tsarist-era Mariinsky Palace in Kyiv.
The possible exposure of Zelenskyy and other officials may not cause deep alarm. The Ukrainian leader and several of his aides were already infected with the coronavirus in 2020.
Turkey is suffering its biggest wave of the pandemic, with average new daily cases skyrocketing to more than 100,000 from fewer than 20,000 since December, according to the Our World in Data project at Oxford University. More than 61% of the country’s population of 84 million have been fully vaccinated, according to Our World in Data.
Erdogan had received his first COVID vaccine shot in January 2021. He did not reveal which vaccine he received, but at the time, the only vaccine available in the country was China’s CoronaVac, made by Sinovac. In June, he said that he had received a third dose.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.