Source: Statista/Wikimedia
By Seth Gellman
Many world leaders have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last year, but almost all of them have recovered from it. Ambrose Dlamini, Prime Minister of Eswatini, died in a South African hospital after testing positive nearly a month earlier. Another world leader who tested positive for COVID-19 recently is French President Emmanuel Macron.
A small, landlocked country surrounded by South Africa to the North, West, and South and Mozambique to the West, Eswatini has not been as affected by COVID-19 as much as other nations across the world. For a population over 1.1 million, there have only been about 7,200 cases and 136 deaths.
On November 16th, Dlamini announced that he tested positive for the coronavirus and that he was asymptomatic and feeling well. On December 1st, the Eswatini government said that Dlamini was moved to a hospital in South Africa, with the hopes that it would fast-track his recovery. On Sunday, December 13th, however, Dlamini was pronounced dead “while under medical care in a hospital in South Africa”, according to the Eswatini government.
Another World Leader that tested positive recently is Emmanuel Macron, the French President. Macron, who turns 43 on December 21st, will be self-isolating in the presidential retreat La Lanterne, near the Palace of Versailles. Macron’s wife, Brigitte, tested negative but she will be self-isolating in the Elysee palace in central Paris.
Macron is running the country remotely and recently spoke to a conference on French foreign aid policy via video, showing no visible signs of illness. However, Macron was not asymptomatic, reportedly taking a test as soon as he had symptoms. It is not publicly known what symptoms Macron had or what treatment he is receiving.
Macron is just one of many world leaders to test positive for the virus. Some other world leaders that have tested positive are: U.S. President Donald Trump, who tested positive in October and was hospitalized for three days, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, announced symptoms back in April, and was put in intensive care for a week, and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who announced his illness in July after downplaying the seriousness of the virus for months, calling it a “little flu.”
France has reported over 60,000 deaths from over 2.44 million cases. The European nation has been in lockdown since October, which was only partially lifted on the 15th, with a curfew from 8 P.M. to 6 A.M. across the country. All restaurants and bars, tourist sites, and public places are closed.
While some countries are lifting strict lockdown measures and the first vaccines are being approved and administered, the virus is still widespread and will likely not be going away as soon as many hope.
