Ukraine’s president tests positive for COVID-19

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, announced Monday that he had tested positive for COVID-19.

In a tweet Monday afternoon local time, Zelensky said that he would self-isolate and continue to work remotely while he recovered from the virus.

“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!” he wrote.

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

Ukraine’s rate of new COVID-19 cases has surged in recent weeks along with the arrival of fall and reached 10,000 cases per day for the first time this month. The country has recorded just under half a million infections since the pandemic began, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.

Zelensky was drawn into U.S. headlines last year when it was revealed that President Trump had urged Zelensky and Ukraine’s government to open a politically-charged investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden (D) over supposedly corrupt dealings involving his son Hunter Biden in Ukraine. Zelensky’s government declined to do so.

Trump’s contacts with Zelensky formed the basis of House Democrats’ articles of impeachment against the president, passed late last year, for which Trump was acquitted in a Senate trial in early 2020.