'Unsettling and nervous': Idris Elba on recovering from coronavirus and focusing on humanitarian efforts

The actor and his wife say that Covid-19 has prompted them to ‘turn around’ their lives

Idris Elba and wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba have recovered from Covid-19 and set up a charitable fund to help protect people in rural areas from the financial impact of the coronavirus. APF

Idris Elba and his wife, Sabrina Dhowre Elba, have spoken out about contracting Covid-19, and how the illness has given them a new focus on humanitarian efforts for the United Nations.

“Everyone’s sort of feeling the way we have been feeling, but it has definitely been sort of just a complete upheaval,” Elba told AP, and said the experience had been “definitely scary and unsettling and nervous”.

The actor, 47, was one of the first high-profile stars in the UK to speak out about testing positive for the coronavirus, revealing he suffered "mild symptoms".

On Monday, March 16, he tweeted a video confirming the news, saying: “This morning I tested positive for Covid-19. I feel OK – I have no symptoms so far – but have been isolated since I found out about my possible exposure to the virus. Stay home people and be pragmatic. I will keep you updated on how I’m doing.”

Six days later, on Sunday, March 22, Dhowre Elba confirmed that she too had tested positive. Now, more than a month on, Elba has been speaking about the lessons he learnt while ill.

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

He said the pandemic is a reminder that “the world doesn’t tick on your time”.

Now that they have both recovered, the couple are focusing on humanitarian efforts. The new UN Goodwill Ambassadors have launched a coronavirus relief fund on behalf of the United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development, with $40 million (Dh147m) in seed money from IFAD.

The fund aims to lessen the impact of Covid-19 on farmers and food producers in rural areas and to prevent economic shocks caused by the pandemic from triggering a global hunger and food crisis.

“People forget that 80 per cent of the poor population live in these rural areas,” Dhowre Elba said. “What we are really worried about at the moment, and why we are launching this fund, is that those people are being forgotten.”

The fund aims to raise at least $200m more from governments, foundations and the private sector.

The actor believes people in rural and poor areas are likely to suffer more in 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,” he said. “Social distancing is almost laughable.”

“While health, you know, is so important at the moment ... we don’t want people to forget about what comes after that,” Dhowre Elba said.

Both Elba and his wife have roots in Africa; Elba’s parents are from Sierra Leone and Ghana, while Dhowre Elba is of Somali descent. The pair visited Sierra Leone in December with the UN to see how IFAD has assisted people there.

Idris Elba visited IFAD-supported projects in Sierra Leone in December 2019. Courtesy IFAD

Elba said he was particularly concerned as to what the coronavirus pandemic could do to the continent’s countries already suffering economically.

"We have to think about the forward planning. What's the fallout going to be?" he said.

While in quarantine with the virus, the couple have been living in New Mexico in the US, but hope to return to London as soon as they can.

“We’ve been fortunate,” he said. “We have been staying in a lovely place that’s been very comfortable for the time. But we’re looking forward to going home.”

Additional reporting by Associated Press