Colombian Capital's Mayor Under Fire For Lockdown Breach

Prosecutors in Colombia are investigating Bogota mayor Claudia Lopez for allegedly breaching the country's strict quarantine rules against the spread of the coronavirus.

The state prosecutor's office said it was investigating Lopez after a video circulated on social media at the weekend showing the mayor shopping at a supermarket with her wife, a senator.

The leftist mayor is married to member of the country's senate, Angelica Lozano.

Strict lockdown rules permit only one person per family to leave home for essential purposes.

Lozano apologized on Twitter and said she would present herself at a police station to pay a fine.

Lopez followed suit, saying she acknowledged "with humility the infraction of going to the supermarket with Angelica. I offer apologies to the citizens and I abide by the summons."

"My responsibility is to set a better example. My priority is to take care of lives," she said.

The mayor appeared to suggest that her criticisms of the conservative President Ivan Duque over his handling of the pandemic measures played a part in the incident.

"Disputes with the president should not be settled by the Prosecutor's Office," she wrote.

On Lopez's orders Bogota, the main focus of COVID-19 in Colombia, began to apply quarantine measures on March 20, five days before Duque imposed the measure on the rest of the country.

Colombia has so far registered more than 5,400 infections and 244 deaths.