List of Athletes, Celebrities and public figures diagnosed with coronavirus

celebrities-coronavirus

rudy gobert and donovan

The pandemic coronavirus has spread to 123 countries, with more than 135,400 confirmed cases and over 5,000 related deaths as of Friday afternoon.

Declared a pandemic by WHO on Wednesday, the virus has become so widespread that even the celebrities aren’t immune to the disease, which has forced the closure of Broadway shows, countless TV and movie productions, gatherings and live shows.

rita and tom hanks

Celebrity power couple Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson were the first well-known figures to announce they were diagnosed during a trip to Australia, where they are now quarantined. The scale of the coronavirus, unfortunately, has led to more public figures revealing their positive coronavirus diagnoses as the world grapples to contain the spread of the deadly virus. Others, like Emily Ratajkowski, Orlando Bloom and Charles Barkley, have publicly announced they are self-isolating as a precaution.

Let’s delve into the growing list of the A-listers, athletes and prominent figures with confirmed cases.

Celebrities

The Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks and his actress wife Rita Wilson were in Australia when their tests came back positive with the virus, On Thursday, the couple gave an update on their health. Hanks made light of the scary situation by quoting his infamous “A League of Their Own” character.

“We have Covid-19 and are in isolation so we do not spread it to anyone else,” he wrote on Instagram.

“There are those for whom it could lead to a very serious illness. We are taking it one-day-at-a-time. There are things we can all do to get through this by following the advice of experts and taking care of ourselves and each other, no? Remember, despite all the current events, there is no crying in baseball. Hanx.”

Best-selling Chilean writer Luis Sepulveda, who lives in northern Spain, has also been infected, showing symptoms of the new Coronavirus in February after he had returned to his home from a literary festival in neighbouring Portugal.

Athletes

England’s football Premier League, the richest in the world, is badly affected: Arsenal’s Spanish manager Mikel Arteta and Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi, who is British, have both contracted the coronavirus.

Italian football team Juventus has announced that one of their players, defender Daniele Rugani, has tested positive.

French basketball player Rudy Gobert has become the first US National Basketball Association player to test positive, prompting the NBA to abruptly suspend the season.

Utah Jazz star Gobert has apologised for potentially exposing people to the coronavirus, after triggering scorn on social media for pointedly touching every microphone and voice recorder on a table in front of him at a media availability on Monday.

A second Utah player, Donovan Mitchell, has also been confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19.

Colombian cyclist Fernando Gaviria is doing well after being admitted to hospital in the United Arab Emirates 10 days ago.

He is the second of two cyclists at the UAE Tour to have been identified with the virus after Russian Gazprom cyclist Dmitry Strakhov.

Public Figures

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Canadian PM Trudeau has been placed in isolation for two weeks after his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau tested positive.

Spain’s equality minister Irene Montero has tested positive and has been quarantined along with her partner, deputy prime minister and radical left Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias.

French Culture Minister Franck Riester is staying in his Paris home after contracting the coronavirus earlier this week.

British MP Nadine Dorries, a minister in the health department who helped craft the legislation to fight the bug, has tested positive, the first British politician to do so.

Several senior officials in Iran have been infected, including Vice President Massoumeh Ebtekar and Iraj Harirchi, deputy health minister.

 coronavirus-infected-celebrities

Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has entered hospital quarantine after being infected. He recently met Ivanka Trump, the daughter and aide of US President Donald Trump.

Fabio Wajngarten, a top aide to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has tested positive for the disease following a trip on which both met with the US president. Bolsonaro is awaiting results of his own test.