Covid 19 coronavirus: Benedict Cumberbatch fears he was 'patient zero', spread virus round world 3 Apr, 2021 07:50 PM 4 minutes to read Cumberbatch stars as Doctor Strange the Marvel franchise. Video / Disney NZ Herald Benedict Cumberbatch worries he might have been the coronavirus "patient zero". The "Imitation Game" star was very sick towards the end of 2019 after flying into South Africa and he now worries he helped to spread coronavirus around the world before the first cases had even been confirmed. Speaking to the independent.co.uk, he explained: "I was incredibly ill, to the point that when all this Covid stuff suddenly broke in the new year, I was thinking, oh my god was I actually patient zero. I was so ill – it was borderline pneumonia."