Sen. Rand Paul tests positive for coronavirus
Republican Kentucky senator Rand Paul tests positive for COVID-19 and will remain in quarantine, according to his official Twitter account.
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As world leaders race to respond to the global coronavirus pandemic, government heads and politicians in the United States, Europe and elsewhere have contracted the COVID-19 virus.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested negative for the coronavirus, his spokesman, James Slack, said Monday, April 13, one day after he was released from St. Thomas’ Hospital in London.
He was diagnosed over two weeks, becoming the first and perhaps the most powerful world leader confirmed to have the illness.
Prince Charles, the next in line to the British throne, had tested positive for the coronavirus on March 25, sending shockwaves throughout the Royal Family. Other major world leaders have taken precautionary measures to prevent infection.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu re-entered self-quarantine on April 2 after his health minister, Yaakov Litzman, tested positive for COVID-19. The move came less than 24 hours after he ended a weeklong self-isolation period following a positive test result from one of his aides.
On March 22, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., became the first U.S. senator to test positive with the coronavirus. That same day, German Chancellor Angela Merkel entered quarantine as a precaution, after a doctor she had come in contact with days earlier learned he was infected.
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Last month, there were fears President Trump had been exposed to the virus after a Brazilian press secretary who attended an event at Mar-a-Lago tested positive for COVID-19 days later.
And Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., both quarantined themselves after coming in contact with someone at the Conservative Political Action Conference in late February who later tested positive.
Here's a list of major world leaders who have either tested positive with the coronavirus — or have started to self-quarantine after possible exposure to the novel disease.
Brazil
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro denied reports he tested positive for the coronavirus but has refused to publish his medical results.
A driver for Bolsonaro was rushed to the hospital on March 24 with a respiratory illness and was tested for the coronavirus.
At least 23 others in Bolsonaro’s circle, including his U.S. ambassador, chief foreign policy adviser and communications chief, have contracted the novel virus, The Guardian reported.
All were members of a delegation that traveled to Mar-a-Lago for a dinner on March 7, prompting fears President Trump or Vice President Mike Pence had been exposed to the virus.
The communications chief, Fabio Wajngarten, was photographed with Trump and Pence at the same event. He became the first in Bolsonaro’s circle to test positive for COVID-19 just days later on March 12, Axios reported.
Augusto Heleno, Brazil’s national security adviser, said on Twitter he tested positive for the coronavirus but displayed no symptoms, according to Foreign Policy.
Canada
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, the wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, announced on March 28 that she had recovered from the coronavirus, weeks after falling ill.
“I am feeling so much better,” Sophie Gregoire Trudeau said in a statement on social media. She said she received the clearance from her doctor and Ottawa Public Health.
She had tested positive for the coronavirus on March 12 after returning from a trip to London, the prime minister's office said. She and her husband separately began 14-day quarantine periods, BBC reported. Trudeau was not tested for COVID-19 and was expected to fulfill all job duties while working remotely. He and their three children did not show symptoms.
In this Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 photo, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau arrive at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Ontario. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
United Kingdom
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested negative for the coronavirus, his spokesman, James Slack, said Monday, April 13, one day after he was released from a London hospital.
Johnson was taken to Chequers, the prime minister’s country residence, around 40 miles northwest of the capital. He will “not immediately returning to work,” Slack said, adding that Johnson had already spoken to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who has been deputizing for the prime minister during his illness.
In a video message posted to Twitter after his release, the prime minister said: "It is hard to find the words to express my debt to the [National Health Service] for saving my life.”
The 55-year-old prime minister revealed on March 27 he tested positive for coronavirus. In a video message posted to his Twitter account, he explained he had developed "mild symptoms" over the last 24 hours including "a temperature and a persistent cough."
By April 5, he was hospitalized at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. The next day, he entered the intensive care unit, where he received oxygen but was not put on a ventilator. He left the ICU three days later and by Sunday, April 13 was discharged from the hospital.
Just two days before Johnson fell ill, the British royal family revealed on March 25 that Prince Charles tested positive for coronavirus.
“The Prince of Wales has tested positive for Coronavirus. He has been displaying mild symptoms but otherwise remains in good health and has been working from home throughout the last few days as usual," Clarence House said to Fox News in a statement.
The statement confirmed that the 71-year-old British royal's wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, 72, tested negative. They are currently at their home, Burnham on the Balmoral Estate, in Scotland "self-isolating," the statement confirmed.
Meanwhile, U.K. Health Minister Nadine Dorries also tested positive for COVID-19. She was the first U.K. politician to contract the illness and learned she had unknowingly spread the infection to her 84-year-old mother, Foreign Policy reported.
Since the line of succession is not explicitly set out in the unwritten British Constitution, a “designated survivor” plan was created by Downing Street on March 23 to squash in-fighting, as several ministers were pushing for Michael Gove, a cabinet office minister and an ally to Johnson, to take over the role if needed, The Telegraph reported.
Italy
Nicola Zingaretti, the leader of the governing Democratic Party, visited Milan on February 27, with a group of students, encouraging people to go out as a sign of strength against the coronavirus threat.
“We must not change our habits,” he wrote in a social media post, according to The Guardian. “Our economy is stronger than fear: let’s go out for an aperitivo, a coffee or to eat a pizza.”
He tested positive with the coronavirus nine days later.
Roberto Stella, president of the Order of Doctors in Varese, died at age 67 from respiratory failure after contracting the coronavirus. Giorgi Valoti, the mayor of Cene, died at age 70 on March 13 also from a COVID-19-related illness. Both men held positions in the northern Lombardy region, which is the epicenter of the outbreak in Italy.
Police officers and soldiers check passengers leaving from Milan main train station, Italy, Monday, March 9, 2020. Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte signed a quarantine decree for the country's prosperous northern Lombardy region and 14 other provinces before extending the lockdown to include the entire country. (AP)
France
Franck Riester, French minister of culture, and Brune Poirson, the secretary of state to the minister of ecological and inclusive transition, both tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Foreign Policy. Several lawmakers in the French National Assembly have also contracted COVID-19.
European Union
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, tested positive. He is 69 years old and previously worked as France’s foreign minister.
“I would like to inform you that I have tested positive for #COVID19. I am doing well and in good spirits. I am following all the necessary instructions, as is my team,” Barnier tweeted on Thursday, March 19. “For all those affected already, and for all those currently in isolation, we will get through this together.”
His announcement is expected to further delay negotiations with the United Kingdom, which formally left the EU on Jan. 31 but has an end-of-the-year deadline to sort out tariffs and trade quotas before completely cutting ties with the bloc.
European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier talks to journalists during a news conference at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
GERMANY'S ANGELA MERKEL TESTS NEGATIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS, CONTINUES QUARANTINE
Germany
German Chancellor Angela Merkel tested negative for the coronavirus on March 23, according to her spokesman, and would have further testing completed this week.
“Further tests will be conducted in the coming days,” her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told news agency dpa International, according to The Associated Press.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a news conference about the coronavirus outbreak in Germany, in Berlin, on March 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Merkel, 65, began a quarantine in her home after learning a doctor she had come in contact with days earlier had tested positive for COVID-19.
The chancellor had received a precautionary vaccine against pneumococcal infection on March 20 and the doctor who administered the vaccine to her later tested positive for the virus.
German politician Friedrich Merz announced on Twitter that he has tested positive for the coronavirus. He is one of several candidates vying to take over the German Christian Democratic Union Party, Foreign Policy magazine reported.
Spain
Spanish health emergency chief Fernando Simon, who has led the country’s response to the outbreak, tested positive for COVID-19 on March 30, officials said in a press conference.
Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo tested positive for COVID-19 on March 25, days after she was hospitalized with a respiratory infection, Reuters reported.
Begoña Gómez, the wife of Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez, as well as two other Spanish ministers tested positive for the coronavirus earlier last month. Gómez was reportedly taking precautionary measures inside her family home in Madrid to ensure others weren’t infected.
Spanish Civil Guard officers at a checkpoint to stop drivers from trying to leave the city, in Pamplona, northern Spain, Saturday, March 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
Irene Montero, Spain’s equality minister, was the first in Sanchez’s cabinet to test positive for the coronavirus. She and her husband, Pablo Iglesias, who is the deputy prime minister and leader of the Podemos Party, remain in quarantine.
Gómez and Montero attended a Madrid march in honor of International Women’s Day. The Spanish government received criticism for allowing the marches across the country.
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Spain’s minister for territorial policy, Carolina Darias, has also tested positive for the virus.
Javier Ortega Smith, the secretary-general of the far-right Vox party, tested positive on March 10, causing the suspension of Spain’s lower house of Parliament. The leader of the party, Santiago Abascal, later tested positive.
Quim Torra, the leader of Spain’s Catalonia region, where Barcelona is located, as well as Pere Aragones, Catalan deputy head of government, have both tested positive.
Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu re-entered into re-entered self-quarantine on April 2 after his health minister, Yaakov Litzman, tested positive for COVID-19, Axios reported. The move came less than 24 hours after he ended a weeklong self-isolation period following a positive test result from one of his aides.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he delivers a statement during his visit to the Health Ministry national hotline, in Kiryat Malachi, Israel last month. On April 6, Netanyahu announced movement restrictions during the upcoming Passover holiday. 9REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo)
Netanyahu first began to self isolate on March 30, his office confirmed to Fox News. He and his staff would go into quarantine “until the epidemiological investigation regarding his adviser is completed,” his office said. Netanyahu's close advisers are also isolating after his adviser for parliamentary affairs, Rivka Paluch, tested positive for COVID-19.
U.S.
Three weeks after becoming the first U.S. senator to test positive for the coronavirus, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced on April 6 that he had retested as negative, making a full recovery. Paul, who is a physician, said he would be volunteering at a local hospital in Kentucky to help doctors and nurses on the frontline of the crisis.
On March 22, Paul tested positive for COVID-19, after having spent time on Capitol Hill engaged in working lunches and meetings over the coronavirus stimulus package, sending a wave of fear through the Republican-run upper chamber of Congress.
Having only a mild case, Paul entered into quarantine in Kentucky and continued to work, while staffers in Paul’s Washington, D.C., office had been working remotely for 10 days prior to his diagnosis, Fox News learned.
His spokesman confirmed that the senator had been at the Senate gym before learning of his diagnosis and leaving for Kentucky; Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas said he saw Paul at the gym and kept a safe distance.
“Senator Rand Paul has tested positive for COVID-19. He is feeling fine and is in quarantine,” Paul's staff tweeted. “He is asymptomatic and was tested out of an abundance of caution due to his extensive travel and events. He was not aware of any direct contact with any infected person.”
In response and upon recommendation from the attending physician, Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah and Mike Lee, R-Utah, entered self-quarantine after coming into contact with Paul. Neither Romney nor Lee experienced symptoms and both are out of self-quarantine.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.; and several other members of Congress also have announced they would self-quarantine after they had possible exposure to the virus.
Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, a nine-term Florida Republican, and Ben McAdams, a freshman Democrat from Utah, were the first two members of U.S. Congress to test positive for the coronavirus.
Diaz-Balart, 58, said he would self-quarantine in Washington, D.C., to avoid exposing his wife, who has underlying health conditions, to the illness at their South Florida home. He said he first started feeling symptoms on March 14, hours after he and more than 400 other members of Congress voted on the House floor for a bill on coronavirus response, Politico reported.
“I want everyone to know that I am feeling much better,” Diaz-Balart said in the statement. “However, it is important that everyone take this extremely seriously and follow CDC guidelines in order to avoid getting sick and mitigate the spread of this virus. We must continue to work together to emerge stronger as a country during these trying times.”
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McAdams, 45, said he began showing symptoms on March 14 after returning home to Utah, where his doctor recommended that he self-quarantine.
House minority whip, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., as well as Reps. Drew Ferguson, R-Ga., Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., and Ann Wagner R-Mo., all subsequently announced they’d self-quarantine as a precaution after coming into contact with either infected congressmen either during the March 13 House floor vote or in meeting earlier that week.
Fox News' Melissa Roberto contributed to this report.
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