Emmanuel Macron joins growing list of world leaders to catch coronavirus

French President Emmanuel Macron is the latest world leader to test positive for Covid-19.

He joins a growing list of others just as inoculation drives against the illness are beginning in a number of countries.

Mr Macron, 42, has repeatedly said he is sticking to strict sanitary protocols during the pandemic, including not shaking hands, wearing a mask and keeping distance from other people.

The Elysee Palace announced on Thursday that he will be isolating for seven days.

Here are some of the others who have had coronavirus.

– Boris Johnson

The UK Prime Minister was the first major world leader confirmed to have Covid-19 after facing criticism for downplaying the pandemic.

He was moved to intensive care in April after his symptoms dramatically worsened a day after he was taken to hospital for what were called routine tests.

Mr Johnson was given oxygen but did not need a ventilator, officials said.

He later expressed his gratitude to NHS staff for saving his life when his condition could have “gone either way”.

The Prince of Wales, the heir to the British throne, also tested positive in March and showed mild symptoms.

– Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump announced in October that he and his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, tested positive for coronavirus.

For months, Mr Trump was accused of downplaying the virus that has killed more than 300,000 Americans.

At 74, the US president is the oldest head of state to become infected with the virus to date and his age put him at higher risk of serious complications from Covid-19.

He was in hospital for three days. After staging a dramatic return to the White House, he continued to minimise the severity of the virus.

– Jair Bolsonaro

The Brazilian president announced his illness in July and used it to publicly extol hydroxychloroquine, the unproven malaria drug that he had been promoting as a treatment for Covid-19 and was taking himself.

For months he had flirted with the virus, calling it a “little flu” as he flouted social distancing at lively demonstrations and encouraged crowds during outings from the presidential residence, often without a mask.

– Juan Orlando Hernandez

The Honduras president announced in June that he had tested positive for coronavirus, along with two other people who worked closely with him.

Mr Hernandez said he had started what he called the “MAIZ treatment”, an experimental and unproven combination of microdacyn, azithromycin, ivermectin and zinc.

He was briefly taken to hospital and released.

Mr Hernandez has added his voice to growing pleas for equitable access to any Covid-19 vaccine, asking the recent UN gathering of world leaders: “Are people to be left to die?”

– Alexander Lukashenko

The president of Belarus, who dismissed concerns about the virus as “psychosis” and recommended drinking vodka to stay healthy, said in July he had contracted it but was asymptomatic.

Belarus is one of the few countries that took no comprehensive measures against the virus.

Other top officials in former Soviet states who were infected include Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

– Prince Albert II of Monaco

The palace of Monaco said in March that the ruler of the tiny Mediterranean principality had tested positive but his health was not worrying.

He was the first head of state to publicly say he was infected.

– Alejandro Giammattei

The Guatemalan president said he tested positive for the virus in September.

He told the nation in a televised address: “My symptoms are very mild. Up to now, I have body aches, it hurt more yesterday than today, like a bad cold.

“I don’t have a fever, I have a bit of a cough.”

Mr Giammattei continued working from home.

– Jeanine Anez

The virus drove the Bolivian interim president into isolation in July but she said she was feeling well.

– Luis Abinader

The newly elected president of the Dominican Republic contracted and recovered from Covid-19 during his campaign.

He spent weeks in isolation before the country’s election in July.

– Nuno Gomes Nabiam

Guinea-Bissau Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam said in April he had tested positive for Covid-19.