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HEALTH-VIRUS-CELEBRITY-POLITICS, FACTS
Stricken: Politicians affected by Covid-19
PARIS, Dec 17, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A growing number of world leaders and
politicians — most recently French President Emmanuel Macron — have been
infected by Covid-19, not least Donald Trump.
Here is a roundup.
– Leaders infected –
Macron on Thursday became the latest world leader to test positive for
Covid-19. He will self isolate for the next week, and “will continue to work
and carry out his activities remotely,” his office said in a statement.
Before him US President Trump announced on October 2 he was positive, as
was his wife Melania. After a stay in a military hospital near Washington, 10
days later he tested negative and went back on the campaign trial, saying he
was “immune” to the coronavirus.
On July 7, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he had tested positive
for the virus, whose importance he has consistently played down as a “little
flu”.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 55, was discharged from hospital on
April 12, where he spent a week, including three days in intensive care,
after falling ill from the coronavirus. After two weeks’ convalescence he
went back to work.
– Other politicians –
In early September the former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi tested
positive after returning from a holiday at his luxury villa in Sardinia. He
was released from hospital on September 14.
Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin was diagnosed with coronavirus in
late April, returning to his duties three weeks later after recovering.
Britain’s Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, and Prince Albert II of
Monaco, both tested positive in March and showed mild symptoms, and have long
since come out of quarantine.
– Deceased –
Few politicians have, however, died of the coronavirus.
On December 13, Ambrose Dlamini, 52, the prime minister of Eswatini, the
former Swaziland, died after contracting coronavirus, and being hospitalised
in South Africa. He was the first sitting leader to do so.
Former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing died on December 2 of
Covid 19 aged 94.
BSS/AFP/IJ/1808 hrs