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Spanish opera star Placido Domingo tests positive for coronavirus

Spanish opera star Placido Domingo said Sunday he had tested positive for the new coronavirus, adding he and his family were "in good health".

Published: 23 March 2020 09:00 CET
Spanish opera star Placido Domingo tests positive for coronavirus
File photo of Placido Domingo performing during the dress rehearsal of "Spanish Night" at the 150th Choregie in Orange, , July 2019. Photo: AFP

“I feel it is my moral duty to announce to you that I have tested positive for COVID-19, the coronavirus,” the 79-year-old wrote on his Facebook page.    

“My family and I are all in self isolation for as long as it is deemed medically necessary. Currently we are all in good health but I experienced fever and cough symptoms therefore deciding to get tested and the result came back positive.”   

He encouraged his followers to wash their hands regularly, keep their distance from one another and follow the advice of experts before ending his statement with a word of encouragement.

“Together we can fight this virus and stop the current worldwide crisis, so we can hopefully return to our normal daily lives very soon,” he said.    

The Spanish icon, who won worldwide acclaim in the 1990s as one of the Three Tenors alongside Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti, has since August been engulfed in a sexual harassment scandal.

He is accused of forcibly kissing, grabbing and fondling women over a period of more than 30 years.

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

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People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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