Covid-19 coronavirus: Ukraine's president tests positive for virus

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Photo / AP file

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced today that he has tested positive for the coronavirus and will be working in self-isolation while being treated.

"There are no lucky people in the world for whom Covid-19 does not pose a threat," Zelenskiy tweeted. "However, I feel good. I promise to isolate myself and I continue to work."

Zelenkiy said he was running a temperature of 37.5C.

Other world leaders to have caught the coronavirus include US President Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro.

The 42-year-old Zelenskiy became president in 2019 as a political neophyte, previously known as an actor and comedian.

He became popular in the country for a TV sitcom, Servant of the People, in which he played the role of a teacher who unexpectedly becomes president after making a rant about corruption that goes viral. He handily defeated incumbent Petro Poroshenko.

Ukraine's coronavirus infections began surging in the late northern summer and have put the country's underpaid doctors and underequipped hospitals under severe pressure.

Today, Ukraine reported 8,867 new cases of infection and 115 deaths over the past day. Throughout the pandemic, 8,565 people have died of Covid-19 in the country.

- AP