By Kaly Soto and Elian Peltier
As the coronavirus has spread around the globe, world leaders have not been spared.
With his positive coronavirus test, President Donald Trump joins the ranks of others like Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain and President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil who have been infected. Also having tested positive are the presidents of Bolivia, Guatemala and Honduras and the prime ministers of Armenia and Russia.
Some leaders have been gravely ill — including Johnson, who was hospitalized for a week with the illness, which has killed more than one million people worldwide and infected more than 34 million. Others like Bolsonaro appeared to have had only mild cases. In Nigeria, a top aide to President Muhammadu Buhari died of the coronavirus in April.
Here is a rundown of world leaders who have fallen ill and how they handled it.
Britain
Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Johnson, 56, who in the early part of the pandemic resisted a lockdown and social-distancing measures, contracted the virus in March. He was later hospitalized, spending three nights in an intensive care unit, and deputized the country’s foreign secretary to carry out his duties. After Johnson was released from the hospital in April, he thanked Britain’s National Health Service, saying that it had “saved my life, no question.”
Brazil
President Jair Bolsonaro
Like Trump, Bolsonaro, 65, was cavalier about the coronavirus, calling it a “measly cold”. Even as his country became one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, he attended political rallies, shook hands with supporters and went around without a face mask.
To date, more than 144,000 Brazilians have died from the virus, although Bolsonaro’s case appears to have been mild. He said he had experienced aches and a fever.
After later testing negative, he posted a tweet including a picture in which he appears to be smiling and giving a thumbs up while brandishing a box of hydroxychloroquine pills, the anti-malaria medicine promoted by Trump as a remedy for the virus, despite a growing scientific consensus that the drug is not effective in treating COVID-19.
Honduras
President Juan Orlando Hernández
Hernández, 51, tested positive in June along with his wife and two aides, and was treated for pneumonia. He initially vowed to keep working as he displayed mild symptoms, but his health quickly worsened. For days, he remained in a “delicate” situation, doctors said, as he was hospitalized and needed oxygen.
Bolivia
President Jeanine Añez
Añez, 53, who took office as Bolivia’s caretaker leader in January after the ouster of President Evo Morales, tested positive for the coronavirus in July. She remained in self-isolation for 14 days, and several government officials also tested positive, including Bolivia’s health minister. Añez returned to work in late July.
Guatemala
President Alejandro Giammattei
Giammattei, 64, said last month that he had tested positive for the coronavirus — on the same day that the Central American country reopened its borders and allowed in international flights after a six-month closure.
Giammattei, a former surgeon who walks with crutches after suffering sclerosis in his youth, said his health condition made him a “high-risk” patient.
“My symptoms are very mild. Up to now, I have body aches. It hurt more yesterday than today, like a bad cold,” Giammattei told a local radio station, vowing to keep working from home.
Guatemala’s culture minister and four government officials were also infected.
Nigeria
President’s chief of staff, foreign minister and governors
Abba Kyari, an influential aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, tested positive for the coronavirus in March and died weeks later at a hospital in Lagos. Kyari was one of the most powerful men in the country, acting as a gatekeeper to the presidency.
The country’s foreign minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, contracted the virus in July and self-isolated for three weeks. At least eight state governors have also contracted the virus in the past several months.
Armenia
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan
Pashinyan, 45, went into self-isolation in June after he and close family members tested positive for the coronavirus. A week later and after displaying no symptoms, he said he had tested negative.
The Armenian authorities eased a weeks-long lockdown in May but acknowledged that they had failed to enforce the measures thoroughly and that there had been widespread quarantine violations.
Russia
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin
Mishustin, 54, who became prime minister in January, was hospitalized after testing positive for the coronavirus in April. Russia initially boasted a low mortality rate, but the country’s have since spiked. The country’s death toll has included hundreds of health care workers.
Gambia
Vice president and several ministers
Several Gambian officials tested positive for the coronavirus in August, including Mambury Njie, the finance minister; Fafa Sanyang, the petroleum and energy minister; and Amie Fabureh, the agriculture minister. Vice President Isatou Touray also contracted the virus, leading President Adama Barrow to self-isolate.
“Stay safe, COVID-19 is real,” the State House of Gambia said in a tweet announcing that the ministers had contracted the virus.
European Union
Michel Barnier, chief Brexit negotiator
Barnier, 69, tested positive for the coronavirus in mid-March as many European countries imposed stringent lockdown measures and closed their borders to neighbours, and as the European Union banned nonessential travel from outside the bloc.
Barnier said at the time that he was “doing well and in good spirits,” and returned to office in mid-April.
Iran
A vice president, top clerics and Parliament’s speaker
As Iran struggled with a severe outbreak in February, several government leaders became infected, including Masoumeh Ebtekar, President Hassan Rouhani’s deputy for women’s affairs. Ebtekar, the highest-ranking woman in the country’s government, later said she had recovered.
The speaker of Parliament, Ali Larijani, tested positive in April, and several high-ranking clerics have died of the virus.
India
Multiple politicians and officials
In India, where coronavirus cases are soaring, several politicians have been among those to contract the virus. Suresh Angadi, a junior railways minister who died last week, became the first high-ranking official in the country to die. He was 65.
Canada and Germany
Leaders who isolated but were not infected
As many countries went into lockdown in March, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, 48, was the first leader of a major industrialized country to go into self-isolation after his wife tested positive for the coronavirus.
Trudeau said he looked after his three young children while hosting daily meetings with his cabinet or discussing strategies to contain the spread of the virus with other leaders like Johnson and President Emmanuel Macron of France. Trudeau, who displayed no symptoms, didn’t take a test but stayed in self-isolation for nearly three weeks.
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, 66, also self-isolated in March after her doctor tested positive for the coronavirus. But after receiving several negative test results, she returned to office in early April.
-New York Times
