Former Renault F1 boss Flavio Briatore, Usain Bolt test positive for COVID-19
Former Renault boss Flavio Briatore is reportedly in a serious condition in hospital after testing positive to COVID-19. It comes after another big name, sprinter Usain Bolt, tested positive.
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Former Renault F1 team boss Flavio Briatore is the latest celebrity to be infected with COVID-19.
The 70-year-old was taken to hospital in Milan on Monday, according to reports in Italy.
Multiple outlets in Italy report Briatore’s condition is serious but he is not in intensive care.
It comes after about 60 staff members tested positive at his Billionaire club in COVID hotspot Porto Cervo.
Briatore reportedly also played soccer last week with friends, including Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic, who has also tested positive for COVID-19.
The flamboyant Italian, who has a child with model Heidi Klum and was once engaged to supermodel Naomi Campbell, was the team principal at F1 teams Benetton and Renault.
He left F1 after being found guilty of ordering Nelson Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash his car to help teammate Fernando Alonso win the Singapore Grand Prix in 2008.
He’s has been dating 24-year-old fashion stylist Maria Ludovica.
USAIN BOLT
Usain Bolt has tested positive for the coronavirus and is self-isolating, days after partying mask-free with friends and sports stars at a wild party for his 34th birthday in Jamaica.
Jamaica’s health ministry has confirmed that Bolt, the greatest sprinter of all time, has tested positive for the virus.
Bolt was filmed partying with guests including Manchester City star Raheem Sterling at his birthday on Friday last week.
The footage showed guests singing, dancing and standing close together in a blatant breach of social distancing guidelines.
News of his diagnosis comes after the eight-time Olympic gold medallist posted a video posted on social media in which he said he had no coronavirus symptoms but said those he had been in contact with should also be tested.
“This weekend, like everybody else, I checked social media and saw social media say that I’m confirmed of COVID-19,” Bolt said.
“I did a test on Saturday to leave (Jamaica) because I have work,” he said, although he did not confirm he had received the result. “I am trying to be responsible so I am going to stay in and be safe.
“Also, I am having no symptoms, I will quarantine myself and wait on the confirmation to see what is the protocol and to see how I go about quarantining myself from the Ministry of Health.
“Until then, I will call my friends and tell them once they came in contact with me to be safe, quarantine and take it easy.”
Bolt said he took the test on Saturday, the day after the party, where revellers danced to the hit Lockdown by Jamaican reggae singer Koffee.
“Best birthday ever,” Bolt, who retired from athletics in 2017, wrote on Instagram, posting a photo of himself holding his daughter, Olympia, who was born in May.
Bolt isn’t the only celebrity failing to follow COVID-19 common sense, though. It seems that when it comes to the pandemic privilege, our world leaders and A-listers are among some of the worst offenders.
KANYE WEST
Rapper Kanye West contracted coronavirus in February, telling GQ he experience “chills, shaking in bed, taking hot showers, looking at videos telling me what I’m supposed to do to get over it.”
The 43-year-old also said, “Someone had told me Drake had the coronavirus and my response was, ‘Drake can’t be sicker than me!’”
Less than five months later, West appeared at a South Carolina rally kicking off his 2020 presidential campaign and not only failed to keep the recommended 1.5 metres away from others, but also did not wear a mask or demand attendees do the same.
MEL GIBSON
Mad Max actor Mel Gibson spent a week in hospital recovering from coronavirus after he was diagnosed in April.
Representatives for the 64-year-old said that the actor has since tested positive for the antibodies, and negative for the virus.
The news came as Gibson had been accused of making more anti-Semitic remarks.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC
Tennis World Number 1 Novak Djokovic tested positive for coronavirus in June during his Adria Tour.
While the tennis champ denied any wrongdoing, his decision to dance topless inside a packed club with other players was made at the height of coronavirus cases in Europe and the US, and condemned by many.
Fellow players Viktor Troicki, Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric also tested positive for the virus, leading the event to be called off.
Australian player Nick Kyrgios told his contemporaries “this is what happens when you disregard all protocols. This IS NOT A JOKE.”
Djokovic, an outspoken anti-vaxxer, said the criticism levelled at him was tantamount to “a witch hunt”.
JK ROWLING
What started as a bizarre move quickly became potentially dangerous after J.K Rowling decided to be her own doctor and told her Twitter followers in April that she’d experienced “all symptoms” of COVID-19 for two weeks, but decided against being tested.
The Harry Potter author then shared a video from a doctor at Queens Hospital that she said “explained how to relieve respiratory symptoms” and had “no nasty side effects.”
Sadly, that turned out to be seriously inaccurate.
The video described a coughing technique that involves taking six deep breaths in before covering your mouth and coughing on the last breath.
Medical experts around the world say that coughing and coughing into your hands are two of the primary ways of spreading COVID-19 droplets and putting others at greater risk of infection.
SAM SMITH
Like Rowling, British pop star Sam Smith also self-diagnosed their coronavirus, telling BBC Radio 1 host Zane Lowe “I didn’t get tested but I know I have had it.”
The Grammy winner continued, “I’m just going to assume that I did because everything I’ve read completely pointed to that. So yeah, I think I definitely had it.”
The 27-year-old drew further criticism from fans when they shared a series of videos to Instagram crying about self-isolation and boredom while in their UK mansion.
BORIS JOHNSON
During the early weeks of coronavirus hitting the UK, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson repeatedly refused to follow the advice of experts and was seen shaking hands with positive coronavirus cases, as well as standing in close proximity to others and never wearing a mask on countless occasions. The conservative PM was also against a national lockdown and downplayed the serious risk the virus posed.
Johnson’s cavalier approach only lasted until he contracted COVID-19 and eventually ended up in intensive care with severe symptoms.
Since his release and recovery, the 56-year-old has had a change of heart, and has not only been seen wearing a face mask, but has also undertaken a new fitness regime to help improve his overall health.
IRAJ HARIRCHI
Iran’s deputy health minister, Iraj Harirchi, tested positive for COVID-19 just one day after he sweated heavily through a press conference in which he tried to downplay the seriousness of the virus and coughed his way through an evening interview.
In February, when Harirchi tested positive, case numbers in Iran were growing rapidly and neighbouring countries had begun to close their borders to the country.
After testing positive, Harirchi posted a video to social media saying he felt fine and calling the virus “democratic”.
JAIR BOLSONARO
Back in March, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro claimed coronavirus to be nothing more than a “little flu” and said his people were unlikely to contract the virus because his nation’s people “don’t get anything.”
“They don’t get anything. You see the guy jumping into the sewer there, going out, diving, right? And nothing happens to him,” he said.
At the time, 22 government officials the President had travelled to the US with had tested positive for coronavirus, but Bolsonaro opted to ignore the 14-day self-isolation period and meet with thousands of constituents instead and demand local governments ease restrictions.
In July, however, Bolsonaro tested positive for COVID-19 after developing symptoms.
Brazil now has the second highest contraction and death rates for coronavirus in the world, after the US.
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