Ellen DeGeneres on Covid-19 diagnosis: 'Everyone around me ran away'

Ellen DeGeneres returned to television on Jan 13 and used the opening monologue of Ellen to explain how she learned about her positive Covid-19 diagnosis on set, which caused production on the daytime show to halt.

"I was getting ready to tape the show, and I was in hair and makeup, getting my face powdered and my extensions put in, and then my assistant, Craig, walks in and said, 'You've tested positive for Covid'," DeGeneres said. "And then everyone around me ran away. It's funny, people just really get scared and they ran. Some have not come back since. So anyway, I left the studio immediately and our Covid safety team informed everyone I had been in contact with. They told (executive producer) Andy Lassner and he ran at full speed off the lot, which is amazing - I didn't realise you could run."