Thirty-three year-old Ukrainian fitness influencer Dmitriy Stuzhuk passed away on Saturday after developing heart complications due to the Wuhan Coronavirus. He contracted the virus after his recent trip to Turkey. Earlier, he had claimed that it was a hoax and downplayed the threat posed by the virus.
Dmitriy Stuzhuk had told his followers, which number at over a million, on Instagram that he did not believe the virus could be fatal to young people or was deadly or even if it existed until he recently contracted the virus. He confessed that he believed that the severity of the virus was a hoax. Consequently, he suffered a COVID-19 organ-system failure after the infection and passed away.
The fitness influencer told his Instagram followers, “I want to share how I got sick and to strongly warn everyone. I was one who thought that Covid does not exist…until I got sick. COVID-19 IS NOT A SHORT-LIVED DISEASE! And it is heavy.” Dmitriy Stuzhuk has three children with his ex-wife with whom he parted ways six months ago. The youngest child is only nine months old.
Sofiz Stuzhuk, ex-wife of Dmitriy Stuzhuk, confirmed the news on Instagram. Sofia had said that he was in “grave condition” after he was rushed to the hospital. She told her followers that the fitness influencer developed “problems with his cardiovascular system… his heart is not coping. His state is extremely grave. No-one can do anything with this,” reported Sky News.
She added, “I did everything I could so the father of my three children lives. But nothing depends on me now.” Later, announcing his death, she said, “Dima is no longer with us. His heart could not stand”.
