Foreign Affairs

Ukraine’s President Tests Positive For Coronavirus

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in a Monday tweet that he tested positive for coronavirus.

“There are no lucky people for whom #COVID19 does not pose a threat. Despite all the quarantine measures, I received a positive test,” Zelensky tweeted.

“I feel good & take a lot of vitamins. Promise to isolate myself, but keep working. I will overcome COVID19 as most people do. It’s gonna be fine!” Zelensky continued.

There are no lucky people for whom #COVID19 does not pose a threat. Despite all the quarantine measures, I received a positive test. I feel good & take a lot of vitamins. Promise to isolate myself, but keep working. I will overcome COVID19 as most people do. It’s gonna be fine!

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 9, 2020

Zelensky’s wife was infected in June and hospitalized for coronavirus for many weeks, Politico reported. 

Zelensky said Monday they might begin weekend lockdowns, Reuters reported. He said the lockdowns wouldn’t badly affect the economy and would keep the virus from spreading,

“A temporary lockdown at weekends, for about a few weeks, can help us to avoid a harder lockdown,” the presidential press service quoted Zelensky, Reuters reported.

Zelensky said in June that he had “wanted to get sick with the coronavirus,” Politico reported, citing a Ukrainian Pravda interview with Zelensky. Zelensky said he wanted to alleviate some fears of the virus.

“Why? To make it easier for people,” Zelensky told Ukrainian Pravda, Politico reported.

Zelensky told Pravda that he told staff “Come on, I’ll get sick, I’ll immediately be isolated … I’ll sleep it off, etc, and live through it normally,” Politico reported.

Zelensky said he reasoned that should he get sick, people would realize “it’s not the plague” even though it’s daunting to a degree to get sick from COVID-19, Politico reported, citing Ukrainian Pravda.

“Because we’ve forgotten now, but at the very beginning there was a very scary moment when everyone thought we’d all die,” Zelensky told Ukrainian Pravda.

Zelensky had said the plan was abandoned because “someone said that people might say it’s a PR stunt,” Zelensky said.

“Of course, my family wouldn’t have forgiven me. They would have said I’m crazy. And actually they would have been right.”

The State Department didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.