Coronavirus: Idris Elba thinks people should spend annual week in quarantine to 'remember' pandemic

Idris Elba and wife Sabrina Dhowre have recovered from the virus

Idris Elba thinks that people should spend a week in quarantine every year once the coronavirus pandemic is over to “remember this time”.

The Luther actor was one of the first celebrities to test positive for the virus, but has since recovered along with wife Sabrina Dhowre.

Despite only having mild symptoms, the couple told Associated Press that contracting the virus “turned around” their lives and called the experience “definitely scary and unsettling and nervous”.

“You know, everyone’s sort of feeling the way we have been feeling, but it has definitely been sort of just a complete upheaval,” Elba said.

“I think that the world should take a week of quarantine every year just to remember this time. Remember each other. I really do.”

Read more

Comparing this proposed week to “hibernation”, Elba said that the lockdown had reminded people that “the world doesn’t tick on your time”.

Amid the Covid-19 crisis, Elba and Dhowre have been named UN Goodwill Ambassadors and have teamed up with the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development to launch a new $40 million fund to help support farmers and food producers in rural areas during the pandemic.

“If you imagine being in a village where no one even knows the name of your village or your population, and that you live in a slum where there is one room and six of you live in it, social distancing is almost laughable,” Elba said.

The pair have been recovering in New Mexico since the actor shared news of his diagnosis on 16 March, but are planning to return to London when flights become available.