CORONAVIRUS IS THE WEAKNESS OF THE POWERFUL LEADERS

               President Trump tested negative for the coronavirus, his doctor said in a memo released Saturday evening. The president's health has been a concern since he spent time at his Florida resort last weekend with a Brazilian official who was later found to have the disease. Doctor Sean P.Conley said in his memo:"One week after having dinner with the Brazilian delegation at Mar-a-Lago, the president remains symptom-free"
At a news conference earlier Saturday, Mr Trump announced that he had been tested for the coronavirus on Friday night and was awaiting the results. Vice President Mike Pence also announced the extension of the administration's European travel ban to the United Kingdom and Ireland. Whether the president would be tested had been a matter of speculation since it first emerged that a member of Brazilian delegation that visited Mar-a-Lago had tested positive. Two other people who were with the president have tested positive and various members of Congress have been self-isolating after interacting with some of those same people. The White House has begun checking the temperatures of anyone in close contact with Mr Trump or Mr Pence. The reporters were asking Mr Trump about why he shook hands with a row of chief executives who attended his news conference on Friday where he announced a national emergency. He said: " It almost becomes a habit and you get out of that habit, getting away from shaking hands is a good thing"
Press secretary of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has tested positive for COVID-19. The official was last week standing side to side with President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence during Bolsonaro's visite to Mar-a-Lago in Florida. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who was at the same meeting says he will self quarantine while awaiting the results of a coronavirus test.
Australia's Home Minister Peter Dutton has tested positive for coronavirus, last week he met President Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and Attorney General William Barr.
In Canada, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, the wife of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday. She reported mild flu like symptoms after a trip to the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Trudeau says he doesn't have symptoms but will work from isolation for 14 days.
Iraj Harirchi, the head of the Iranian counter-coronavirus task force, was diagnosed on Feb. 25 after downplaying the severity of the outbreak. A further 20 Iranian lawmakers have since been infected and isolated, at least two have died. The head of Iran's crisis management organization Esmail Najjar had also been placed in isolation after contracting COVID-19.
The French Culture Minister Frank Riester tested positive on March 9, the ministry said, nothing that Riester had been at the National Assembly where 5 people were found to have the virus. Nadine Dorries, a United Kingdom Health Minister also tested positive with Coronavirus this week, before falling ill, she interacted with Prime Minister Boris Johnson as well as other prominent politicians. In neighboring Spain, Javier Ortega Smith, a secretary general of the far-right Vox party has also been infected with the virus and is calling for the closure of Spain's Congress of Deputies.
In Italy, which has witnessed the highest number of deaths and cases outside of China, the leader of the Italian Democratic Party Nicola Zingaretti announced in a Facebook video posted on March 7, that he has contracted the virus, "well, it's arrived, I also have Coronavirus".
There are several potential explanations for why politicians are testing positive with COVID-19 at higher rates than the general population, experts say:"Politicians are in contact with many people, probably more than the average person, they are always shaking hands and meeting people from many other countries" That might explain it. Politicians may also be more likely to get tested for Coronavirus quickly, compared to the average citizen, while a non-politician will call a Coronavirus hotline when they begin showing symptoms, Balloux says:"Politicians get tested right away, anyone else with similar symptoms and no travel history would not be tested". Politicians also tend to be older than the median age and consequently likelier to be susceptible to catching the virus. While politicians are facing above average rates of Coronavirus, many political establishments worldwide have not closed, further proliferating the spread of the Virus. While politicians from Mongolia to Scotland have self isolated after being exposed to COVID-19. Other politicians such as President Trump have not despite having come into contact with colleagues who are now self-quarantining.

Ann Keller, an associate professor of health politics and policy at the University of California at Berkeley, said that in a democracy these is usually a chain of command if a leader becomes incapacitated because of an illness. In stable democracies, if a head of state dies in office, there are clear patterns of transition so that there is no vacuum of leadership at the top. In the US for example, Pence is second in the chain of command after Trump, followed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In Canada, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland would temporarily take over Trudeau's responsibilities if he were to become ill. Other pluralist democracies may choose another elected official to lead. Still some experts said that even if a chain of command were laid out, the unique nature of the new coronavirus might change how responsibilities are carries out. Eugene Bardach, a professor emeritus at the Goldman School of Public Policy at Berkeley said "Often there's something on paper, but the implementation is up to people around the leader making difficult and sensitive judgments that could easily backfire, providing the leader is merely incapacitated and doesn't drop dead, in which case the needed actions get triggered quickly if the death becomes known. In autocracies, a death signals a coup or civil war"
The chain of command is less transparent in nondemocratic societies, making it difficult to predict what would happen if a leader elsewhere in the world were to come down with the disease.