Queen lead guitarist Brian May tests COVID positive
Dec 18, 2021
London [UK], December 18 : Brian May, the lead guitarist for British rock band Queen, has tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the musician, who co-founded the legendary rock band with the late singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor, shared the news on his Instagram feed on Saturday, alongside two photos of his test showing the result.
"Yep. The shocking day finally came for me. The dreaded double red line," May wrote. He went on to describe his last few days as "truly horrible," though he says he's OK and requests "no sympathy please."
May shared a few other details about his case, including how or where he may have contracted COVID. However, he did promise to eventually "tell the tale" of his experience in the post before encouraging people to stay safe during the holidays.
"PLEASE take extra care out there, good folks. This thing is incredibly transmissible. You really do NOT want it messing up YOUR Christmas," he concluded his message.
On Saturday, a local news outlet reported that daily cases in the U.K. on Friday were over 92,000, up from the around 85,000 cases reported for Thursday. The U.K. Health Security Agency has also tracked a significant spike in omicron variant cases across the country, beginning December 13, as per The Hollywood Reporter.
The spread of omicron comes as both the U.K. cinema and stage theatre industries brace for a new wave of the pandemic already affecting some productions.