By Oisin Sweeney • Published: 26 Jan 2021 • 8:39
The 80-year old Mexican tycoon has long been the richest man in South America - Image Source: Wikimedia
LATIN AMERICA’S richest man, Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim, has tested positive for Covid-19.
Carlos Slim forged a business empire that saw him become the richest man in Latin America, and was briefly the world’s wealthiest person. The 80-year old Mexican tycoon has now tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a tweet from his son.
The multi-billionaire has only displayed “light symptoms” and is doing “very well”, his son Carlos Slim Domit tweeted. He added that his wealthy father was “making very good progress with Covid-19 after more than a week of minor symptoms.”
The tycoon is worth an estimated $52bn (€42bn), according to Forbes magazine’s rich list in 2020. His vast fortune is the product of America Movil, his company that dominates telecommunications in Mexico and other Latin American countries.
Mexico is currently one of the world’s worst-hit countries by the Covid-19 pandemic, having recorded 1.7 million cases and 150,000 deaths. The news of Carlos Slim’s infection comes days after the country’s President, Andre Manuel Lopez Obredor, tested positive for the virus.
The government recently announced that Mexico would roll out 24 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik vaccine, but the logistical challenge of jabbing the country’s vast population will prove difficult to undertake.
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Oisin is an Irish writer based in Seville, the sunny capital of Andalucia. After starting his working life as a bookseller, he moved into journalism and cut his teeth as a reporter at one of Ireland's biggest news websites. Since joining Euro Weekly News in November, he has enjoyed covering the latest stories from Seville, Spain and further afield - with special interests in crime, cybersecurity, and European politics. Anyone who can pronounce his name first try gets a free cerveza...
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