VIENNA: The foreign ministers of Austria and Belgium have tested positive for coronavirus after attending a meeting with EU colleagues earlier this week, raising concerns the gathering may have been a so-called “super-spreader” event.

Austria’s Alexander Schallenberg and Belgium’s Sophie Wilmes sat next to each other during a group breakfast at the meeting of EU Foreign Affairs Council on Monday in Luxembourg, a spokeswoman for Austria’s Foreign Ministry said.

“It is suspected that Schallenberg might have been infected at the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on Monday,” the spokeswoman said, adding that he did not have symptoms and had been tested as a routine measure.

Wilmes said on Saturday she had tested positive for Covid-19, a day after going into self-isolation with suspected symptoms of the illness.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2020