World leaders react to diagnosis
• As the world heard the news Friday that President Donald Trump and first l ady Melania Trump had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, just one month ahead of the November election, foreign leaders and lawmakers began reacting and expressing their well wishes.
“Get well soon,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie, urged their U.S. counterparts Friday.
“Sophie and I are sending our best wishes to @POTUS Trump and @FLOTUS,” Trudeau tweeted. “We hope you both get well soon and have a full recovery from this virus.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on Twitter: “Wishing my friend @ POTUS @ realdonaldtrump and @ FLOTUS a quick recovery.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also offered support.
“Like millions of Israelis, Sara and I are thinking of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump and wish our friends a full and speedy recovery,” Netanyahu, a close Trump ally, tweeted.
“My best wishes to President Trump and the First Lady. Hope they both have a speedy recovery from coronavirus,” said Johnson, who was diagnosed with the infection in late March and spent a week in a London hospital.
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a tribute to Trump, reportedly writing in a telegram: “I am confident that your vital energy, high spirits, and optimism will help you cope with the dangerous virus.” The Kremlin said Putin plans to be vaccinated soon against the coronavirus with an experimental Russian vaccine.
China also joined the list of countries to have reached out to Trump. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Reuters that China hoped the couple would recover soon.
Trump has attacked China for its handling of the pandemic, which first emerged in the city of Wuhan late last year.
“Nobody is immune from # COVID19,” the United Nations Office for disaster risk reduction tweeted Friday.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, also sent the president “best wishes” on Friday, despite Trump accusing the body of “severely mismanaging” the outbreak and threatening to permanently cut U. S. funding to the WHO.
“I hope they pass this stage quickly to return in full health and wellness to leading the appreciated efforts of the United States toward working on combating this virus at the international level, for the sake of all of humanity,” Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el- Sissi wrote on social media. “May God protect our peoples and all the peoples of the world.”