Margrethe II, has issued a passionate plea to the people of Denmark, asking them to "wash hands", "keep distance", and "stay at home," in a bid to keep the coronavirus pandemic at bay. The royal family shared a video on Instagram in which the queen referred to the virus as a "chain that needs to be broken". She asked that people heed the advice of the authorities, and warned that "one person may infect many".
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A translation of the royal's full statement read: "I have an appeal to everyone: coronavirus is a dangerous guest. It spreads like rings in the water, and it's going fast. One person can infect many – even without feeling sick, and the infection goes on around to even more, a long and scary chain. In that chain, people will die. A child can lose his grandmother, a daughter her father, a wife her husband. Friends suddenly don't want to be there anymore. This is the chain we need to break, and we can break. This can only happen when we all think about and do the same thing at the same time – and in the right time. The advice of the authorities is actually quite simple: wash hands. Keep your distance. Avoid physical contact. Stay at home."
The video was shared on Instagram
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Even the royal households are feeling the effects of the coronavirus outbreak, and on Tuesday it was confirmed that Karl von Habsburg, the Archduke of Austria, has been diagnosed with COVID-19 and is now being quarantined.
The 59-year-old, who is the head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, confirmed the news in a phone call on the Austrian TV channel oe24. "It's annoying, but I'm fine. It's not the black plague," he said. "I thought it was the usual flu. When a friend called me that he had a positive test at a congress in Switzerland, I was also tested." The Archduke went on to praise the Austrian authorities for acting "with measure and goal". He added, "Panic is not brought in."
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