A week ago, the Golden Globes were awarded for the 80th time in the USA. Numerous celebrities attended the event – ​​and some of them apparently brought an ugly souvenir home with them: According to the ABC news channel, several celebrities said after the event that they had tested positive for Covid-19. At least four stars, including Jamie Lee Curtis and Michelle Pfeiffer, contracted the virus after the award ceremony.

In response, attendees at the Critics Choice Awards, presented on Sunday, were required to present a negative Covid-19 test before being allowed onto the venue. In addition to Pfeiffer and Curtis, who was nominated for best actress, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson were also absent from the awards ceremony. Both also tested positive for the virus after receiving the Golden Globes, according to news site Deadline.

Farrell was nominated for the Best Actor award, while Gleeson was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the awards ceremony.

A large part of the new corona infections in the USA can now be traced back to the omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, which was only recently discovered. This variant was first discovered in the United States in October. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the subvariant has now been registered in 38 countries worldwide. It is the most contagious sub-variant of the coronavirus discovered to date. While it now accounts for more than 27 percent of infections in the USA, it was responsible for only 2.5 percent of Covid-19 cases in the EU in the last few weeks of 2022, according to the EU health authority ECDC.

Sources: ABC, "Deadline", DPA