Psychology and Relationships

Shakira completes online ancient philosophy course during coronavirus lockdown

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Shakira at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
David A. Grogan | CNBC

Singer Shakira has used her time during the coronavirus lockdown to complete an online course in ancient philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. 

The Colombian singer said in a tweet on Thursday that she had just graduated from the American college, completing her studies over four weeks. 

Tweet 1 

Shakira said on Instagram last month she started the course to make confinement "productive." 

She joked that she wanted to think about something else other than "Paw Patrol," the children's TV show. Shakira has been in lockdown with her two children and husband Gerard Pique, who plays soccer for FC Barcelona in Spain, where they live. 

Spain has reported the highest number of Covid-19 cases in Europe, second only to the U.S. worldwide. 

On Friday, Spain's health ministry reported the lowest number of daily coronavirus-related fatalities in more than one month, with 367 deaths in the last 24 hours. It has now seen a total of 219,764 confirmed cases of the virus and 22,524 deaths. 

The country went into lockdown on March 14. Yet, while some construction and manufacturing businesses have since resumed operating, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has sought to extend Spain's state of emergency until early May. 

Spain has been subject to some of the harshest lockdown measures in Europe, including banning children from going outside, a rule which is due to be relaxed from Sunday.

This was something being called for by the Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, as well as Shakira, who asked the Spanish government via Instagram to consider letting children out for walks, accompanied by an adult. 

"If adults are allowed to go out for a walk or to shop, you should think of a solution that grants this same right to children who need sun and air for their physical and mental health," the singer said last month, according to a translation of her Instagram post.