A fitness influencer from Ukraine has died of the coronavirus – after previously doubting the existence of the deadly bug, according to reports.
Dmitriy Stuzhuk,33 who boasts of over 1 million followers on Instagram, who promoted healthy living, notified his fans of his diagnosis from his hospital bed, saying he woke up with breathing difficulties during a trip to Turkey and developed a cough the following day.
He was tested after returning to Ukraine and was diagnosed with the illness.
“I was one who thought that COVID does not exist… until I got sick,” he wrote “COVID-19 IS NOT A SHORT-LIVED DISEASE! And it is heavy.”
He added that his condition was “stable.”
“The hospital is completely filled with people, some of them being treated in corridors,” wrote Stuzhuk, who was allowed to leave the hospital after eight days but was rushed back soon after.
His ex-wife Sofia Stuzhuk, 25, the mother of his three kids, later announced that he was in “grave condition” and unconscious, according to the news outlet.
Dmitriy Stuzhuk was a lifestyle influencer focused on fitness.
CS Kagwe said new infections indicate a 12% positivity rate compared to the 4% positivity rate before COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.