Dr Ian Lipkin, One Of World’s Leading Infectious Disease Expert And Consultant To Movie ‘Contagion’, Tests Positive For Covid-19

Dr. Ian Lipkin, one of the world’s top infectious disease experts and a consultant for the pandemic theme based Hollywood movie "Contagion”, has tested positive for Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, USA Today reported.

Dr.Lipkin, who currently serves as the director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University and advised director Steven Soderbergh on the 2011 Hollywood movie, disclosed this during a discussion on the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on Fox's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" on Tuesday (Mar 24).

A few minutes in to the show, Dr. Lipkin was seen giving dry cough. He then said "I would like to say on this show tonight, this has become very personal to me, too. Because I have COVID as of yesterday.

Dr. Lipkin described his experience with the disease as “miserable”.

“If it can hit me, it can hit anybody,” he said. “I know where I think I got it but that’s not the same as proving. But it doesn’t matter. This virus can be found all over the United States.”

During the show, Dr. Lipkin also red-flagged US President Donald Trump's proposal of relaxing country’s stay-at-home policy by Easter weekend, April 11.

"We really don’t know when we’re going to get this under control," said Dr. Lipkin, who called for harmonizing restrictions across the country. "We have porous borders between states and cities, and unless we’re consistent, we’re not gonna get ahead of this thing."

Dr. Lipkin is widely regarded as key player in the scientific studies into the West Nile virus and the Sars coronavirus. He went to China in January to discuss containment measures for Covid-19.

The movie ‘Contagion’ captures some aspects of Dr. Lipkin’s own experiences in Beijing assisting the World Health Organization and the Chinese Health Ministry during the 2003 SARS outbreak in 2003. He became ill and was quarantined when he returned to the U.S.