A Ukrainian fitness influencer who told his followers COVID-19 didn’t exist dies after contracting the virus

Dmitriy Stuzhuk, a fitness influencer from Ukraine, died at age 33 due to complications from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, his ex-wife, Sofia Stuzhuk, confirmed in an Instagram post on Saturday.

According to Sky News, Dmitriy tested positive for COVID-19 following a recent trip to Turkey, and he was taken to the hospital upon returning to Ukraine.

Stuzhuk kept an Instagram log of the days following his COVID-19 diagnosis, in which he warned his 1.1 million followers on the platform of the disease. The influencer, who shared posts related to health, nutrition, and exercise, said that he previously thought that COVID-19 did not exist.

The World Health Organization said Tuesday there were more than 700,000 new COVID-19 cases reported in Europe last week, a jump of 34% from the previous week. Britain, France, Russia and Spain accounted for more than half of the new infections.

The increasing caseload is partly the result of more testing, but the U.N. health agency noted that deaths were also up 16% last week from the week before. Doctors are warning that while many of the new cases are in younger people, who tend to have milder symptoms, the virus could again start spreading widely among older people, resulting in more serious illnesses.

Italy and France are restricting parties and putting limits on restaurants and bars. The Netherlands went further and ordered the closing of all bars and restaurants, And to discourage partying at home, it banned the sale of alcohol after 8 p.m.

The Czech Republic is closing all schools until Nov. 2, while Latvia is ordering teenagers to switch to distance learning for a week. And Britain unveiled a three-tiered system for deciding what restrictions to impose, based on how severe the outbreak is in certain areas.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a European Union advisory body Tuesday that Wshe is watching the rising infection figures “with great concern.”