A fitness influencer who believed the COVID-19 pandemic was a hoax has died after contracting the virus on a holiday in Turkey.
Dmitriy Stuzhuk had over 1 million followers on Instagram, where he promoted his ideas around healthy living and exercise.
In a selfie posted last week showing him in hospital wearing an oxygen mask, he revealed he had woken up with breathing difficulties and a cough in Turkey, before testing positive for the virus after returning home to Ukraine.
"As you all know from stories, I am sick with coronavirus," he captioned the post, according to a translation from The Independent.
"Today, after returning home, for the first time there was an enthusiasm for at least writing something.
"I want to share how I got sick and convincingly warn everyone: I also thought that there was no COVID... until I got sick."
In the post Stuzhuk reassured followers he was stable, but a day later his ex-wife and mother of his three children Sofia Stuzhuk announced on Instagram he had died.
Sharing a photo of her ex-husband on the beach with their children, the 25-year-old wrote: "For the rest of my life I will remain grateful to you for our three beautiful children," she wrote.
"For all the invaluable experience. And for who I have become with you."
