Country singer Joe Diffie, Japanese comedian Ken Shimura dies due to COVID-19

Veteran Japanese comic Ken Shimura, who tested positive for the novel coronavirus last week, has died at the age of 70. Not just him even, Joe Diffie, a Grammy award-winning country music singer who had several chart-topping hits in the 1990s, died at the age of 61. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor was hospitalized in Tokyo on March 20 after developing a fever and being diagnosed with severe pneumonia. Diffie's death was announced on his Facebook page, which said he died on Sunday "from complications of



coronavirus."

Shimura tested positive for COVID-19 on March 23. The condition of Shimura, best known for Japanese variety show "Shimura Ken no Bakatono-sama", was said not to be critical. A household name in Japan since the 1970s, Shimura was the first prominent entertainment world figure in Japan to test positive for the virus. The actor was set to star in his first feature film "God of Cinema", directed by Yoji Yamada. The film, which marks the 100th year anniversary of studio Shochiku, has been put on hold indefinitely.