Virus infects top echelons of governments world over

ANKARA

The novel coronavirus has spread to the top echelons of governments across the world.

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has so far been the highest authority diagnosed with COVID-19.

Prime ministers

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Guinea-Bissau’s Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam all contracted the virus.

Iran’s Vice President for Women's and Family Affairs Masoumeh Ebtekar, South Sudan’s First Vice President Riek Machar, and Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo also tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Ministers

Among the ministers who tested positive for the virus are British Health Minister Matthew Hancock, Israeli Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, Afghan Health Minister Firuziddin Firuz, Ghanaian Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, Australian Interior Minister Peter Dutton, French Culture Minister Franck Riester, Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova, Polish Environment Minister Michael Wos, and EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.

Speakers

Iran's former parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani and Pakistan’s National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser were also diagnosed with the virus.

Members of royal families

Prince of Wales Charles and Prince of Monaco Albert I also tested positive for COVID-19.

More than 11.86 million COVID-19 cases have been reported around the world, with fatalities nearly 545,000, and recoveries exceeding 6.48 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

* Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur