Idris Elba and wife recovering from coronavirus, to help others  

Even though they only had mild symptoms, Idris Elba says he and his wife had their lives “turned around” after contracting the coronavirus, calling the experience “definitely scary and unsettling and nervous”, The Associated Press reports.

“You know, everyone’s sort of feeling the way we have been feeling, but it has definitely been sort of just a complete upheaval,” he told the agency late last week.

But the British actor is thought to have the feeling  that there are life lessons to be learned, and the pandemic serves as a reminder that “the world doesn’t tick on your time.”

“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 British actor and his model wife, Sabrina Dhowre Elba, spoke to the AP as they began a push with the United Nations to lessen the impact of COVID-19 on farmers and food producers in rural areas.

“People forget that 80 percent 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.”

In their new roles as U.N. Goodwill Ambassadors, Elba and his wife, have joined forces with the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to launch the new $40 million fund. IFAD hopes to raise up to $200 million more from governments worldwide.

The actor believes people in rural and poor areas are likely to suffer more in the pandemic.