The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction tweeted, “Nobody is immune to # COVID19.”
In Myanmar, a Baptist minister who met with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office last year and told him about military repression and torture said Covid-19 could help the president better understand the pain of others.
“There are many critics of Trump regarding Covid-19,” said Minister Hkalam Samson. “Now he suffers himself and should now feel sorry for his people.”
Others saw a measure of fairness in his diagnosis, as he has been shown to have reduced the threat from the virus and opposed simple precautionary measures such as wearing a mask and holding campaign events with little or no social distancing. During Tuesday’s presidential debate, he mocked former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for wearing a mask.
“If the President of the United States, the most powerful person in the world, can see this, the virus has no borders,” said Wang Huiyao, founder and president of the Center for China and Globalization, an influential research group in Beijing.
Mr. Wang said the president’s positive test result could be a worldwide reminder of the value of wearing face masks, which are still widely used in mainland China, although no locally transmitted case has been reported in more than six weeks.
“He also had large crowds, shook hands and greeted people, and he rarely wears a mask,” said Mr. Wang. “It is probably a good reminder to the world that, as US experts have said, it is important to wear a mask.”
In China, the news sparked an online firestorm and within an hour had shot to the top of the most wanted topics on Sina Weibo, a popular, albeit heavily censored, social media platform. The comment reflected a mixture of sympathy, disbelief, and even delight from some online users who viewed the development as just retaliation for Mr Trump, widely viewed in China as a forerunner in the recent downward spiral in relations between the United States and China.
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