Several seats of power around the globe have suffered direct hits from COVID-19.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Tuesday after feeling ill on Sunday.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson was hospitalized two weeks in early April. Upon leaving St Thomas’ hospital on April 12 he thanked hospital staff for saving his life.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was quarantined at home in Ottawa in March after his wife was diagnosed with the coronavirus.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was released from the hospital last week where he was treated for pneumonia after testing positive for COVID-19.
U.S. President Trump, although urging citizens to wear protective masks and practice social distancing, has shunned the practices himself even though several White House aides, re-election staffers, Secret Service agents, his personal valet and Kimberly Guilfoyle, girlfriend of son Donald Jr. have all tested positive.
The leader of the country of origin of the virus, Chinese Communist Party Leader Xi, adapts to masks to help ensure his position as leader of the party for life.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is tested every three days and has installed special disinfection tunnels in the Kremlin and his official residence to protect him from visitors and infected officials.
From Reuters:
COVID-19 has infiltrated several seats of power. Here’s how each administration dealt with it:
BRAZIL
President Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday he tested positive for the novel coronavirus, adding he was in good health despite running a fever. The right-wing populist, who has played down the severity of the virus which he has called a “little flu,” took the test on Monday after developing symptoms.
In a television interview, Bolsonaro said he began feeling ill on Sunday and has been taking hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug with unproven effectiveness against COVID-19.
Brazil has the world’s second-largest outbreak behind the United States with more than 1.6 million confirmed cases and 65,000 COVID-19 deaths.
Bolsonaro has openly defied the consensus among Brazilian public health experts for slowing the outbreak. He has criticized lockdown and social-distancing orders issued by regional governors and mayors, saying their economic damage is worse than the disease.
BRITAIN
Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent two weeks recovering from a bout of COVID-19 at Chequers, his country residence, before returning to Downing Street on April 26.
Johnson, 56, had previously spent three nights in intensive care in a London hospital with the illness. Leaving St Thomas’ hospital on April 12, he thanked staff for saving his life.
UNITED STATES
President Donald Trump has consistently disregarded guidance from health authorities urging people to wear protective masks in close company to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
He has not worn a mask in public – even mocking Joe Biden, his Democratic rival in the Nov. 3 election, for wearing one – while also not practicing social distancing at various public events. In April, Trump said he could not picture himself wearing a mask while greeting “presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens.”
But several White House aides, staff members of Trump’s re-election campaign and Secret Service agents have tested positive for the coronavirus, as has his personal valet and Kimberly Guilfoyle, his son Donald Jr.’s girlfriend who serves as a top fund-raising official for his campaign.