Dead, ill, recovered: celebrities hit by coronavirus

Dead, ill, recovered: celebrities hit by coronavirus

PARIS (AFP) - From world leaders like US President Donald Trump to Hollywood stars and now Portuguese soccer sensation Cristiano Ronaldo... the coronavirus has hit millions around the world, including the rich and famous.

Here is a roundup of high-profile figures affected by coronavirus.

Infected 

Cristiano Ronaldo, the 35-year-old Juventus striker -- voted the world’s top player five times -- tested positive on Tuesday, and will miss Portugal’s Nations League clash with Sweden on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump tested positive for Covid-19 on October 2, upending the already tense US election, but returned to campaigning in Florida Monday saying, "I feel so powerful."

Filming in Britain for the latest Batman movie was halted in September after its star Robert Pattinson reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus, just days after shooting had resumed.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson revealed that his entire family had tested positive for coronavirus but had all made a full recovery.

Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi spent 11 days in hospital in September after being admitted with coronavirus, describing it as "perhaps the most difficult ordeal of my life".

The 83-year-old media tycoon tested positive after returning from a holiday at his luxury villa in Sardinia.

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan spent three weeks in hospital in July and August after being admitted with "mild" coronavirus symptoms after testing positive for the disease.

Bachchan’s actor son Abhishek and daughter-in-law, actress and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai were also admitted to hospital.

In June tennis world number one Novak Djokovic tested positive after an ill-fated Adria Tour exhibition, where there was minimal social distancing and players went nightclubbing.

Marianne Faithfull, 73, a 1960s icon and celebrated singer songwriter, was discharged from hospital on April 22, 22 days after being admitted with symptoms of coronavirus.

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 two weeks’ convalescence he is now back at work.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, as well as Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin also tested positive.

Superstar Madonna said on May 7 she had tested positive after falling ill during a tour of France.

Michel Barnier, who leads the EU’s negotiations with Britain on Brexit, announced March 19 that he had the virus and returned to work in Brussels on April 14. His British counterpart David Frost was also infected.

Britain’s Prince Charles and Prince Albert II of Monaco, who both tested positive and showed mild symptoms, have now come out of quarantine.

Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks and his wife, actress and singer Rita Wilson, have recovered and returned home to Los Angeles after being quarantined for two weeks in Australia.

British actor Idris Elba, who tested positive but was asymptomatic, announced the end of his isolation March 31.

Spanish opera star Placido Domingo, 79 was released from hospital on March 30.

In Italy, Juventus announced that France’s 2018 World Cup winner Blaise Matuidi, Italian defender Daniele Rugani and Argentinian attacker Paulo Dybala, had also come down with the virus.

On July 7, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he had tested positive for the virus, whose importance he has consistently played down.

Deceased 

American jazz saxophonist Lee Konitz died on April 17 aged 92.

Best-selling exiled Chilean writer Luis Sepulveda, 70, died on April 16 at a hospital in Spain some six weeks after testing positive.

Jazz great Ellis Marsalis died on April 1 aged 85 after contracting the virus.

Senegal’s Pape Diouf, 68, ex-president of French football club Olympique de Marseille, died March 31 in Dakar.

Former Republic of Congo president Jacques Joaquim Yhombi Opango died in France on March 30, aged 81.

Veteran Afro-jazz star Manu Dibango, 86, and revered American playwright Terrence McNally, 81, both died on March 2.

British rapper Ty, who was nominated for the prestigious Mercury music prize, died aged 47 on May 7.

Indigenous leader Paulinho Paiakan, one of the biggest defenders of the Amazonian rain forest, died aged 65, it was announced on June 17.

Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada, 81, the first Asian creator to break through on the Paris scene, died in the French capital on October 4.