Newsreader tells of being struck down by symptoms
BBC newsreader Huw Edwards has revealed he was off work for three weeks recovering from suspected coronavirus.
Edwards, writing in Welsh-language publication Barn, told how he developed symptoms while walking in Kent in midMarch just before the UK lockdown was announced.
Edwards, 58, was not tested for the virus – but said a doctor who treated him was “totally convinced it was Covid-19”.
Bridgend-born Edwards said he returned to work after a period of rest “having fully understood what the illness was”.
He had been out on a 10-mile walk between Faversham and Seasalter, which he said he usually found “easy enough”.
In Welsh he wrote: “But the return journey was much more of a problem for me.
“I developed pains in my legs, hips and shoulders. The walk – although slow – was very hard and I almost missed my train back to London.
“And that’s where I started showing signs of pneumonia, and the doctor was totally convinced it was Covid-19 at the root of it, although I wasn’t tested to confirm it formally.
“I returned to work after three weeks of rest having fully understood what the illness was.”
In December, Edwards revealed he had undergone a physical and mental “transformation” since taking up boxing training.
In his piece with Barn,
Edwards went on to explain how the nature of his job within the BBC had changed since lockdown began.
He said that the virus has meant that the hundreds of staff working to produce news “24 hours a day, every day of the year” at the London office had now been reduced to the bare minimum with many working remotely.
He went on to say that distancing means that everybody sits apart with many people absent “due to the effects of the virus”.
He also says there is a one-way traffic system for walkers in the office.
In the article, the newsreader also defended the impartiality of the BBC, saying it was attacked equally by those on the right and the left.