Patients with Covid-19 describe what it’s like
CORONAVIRUS patients from Wales and across the world have described what it feels like to contract Covid-19, and what happens when you do.
More than 127,000 people have caught the virus and, as of yesterday, the number infected in the UK has risen to more than 460.
More than 4,700 patients with coronavirus have died across the world since the outbreak started.
But among the vast majority of people who have made a full recovery after catching the virus, Connor Reed, from Llandudno – who now lives in the Chinese city of Wuhan – is thought to be the first Welsh person – and one of the first people from the UK – to catch Covid-19.
He contracted it in November, a month before authorities in China officially announced its outbreak, and thought he had severe flu.
The 25-year-old English teacher described how he started out with “just a sniffle”, which he tried to cure with hot whisky and honey, before deciding around a week in that he had the flu.
“This is no longer just a cold. I ache all over, my head is thumping, my eyes are burning, my throat is constricted,” he wrote.
He said his “bones were aching” and he had a “hacking cough”.
By day 11 he thought the flu had lifted, but said it was “back with a vengeance” the next day.
“I’m sweating, burning up, dizzy and shivering. The television is on but I can’t make sense of it. This is a nightmare,” he said.
“I can’t take more than sips of air and, when I breathe out, my lungs sound like a paper bag being crumpled up. This isn’t right. I need to see a doctor.”
He was diagnosed with pneumonia and a few days later said he ached “as if I’ve been run over by a steamroller”.
“My sinuses are agony, and my eardrums feel ready to pop. I know I shouldn’t but I’m massaging my inner ear with cotton buds, trying to take the pain away.”
A couple of days later he reported feeling better.
Jaimuay Sae-ung, 73, was the first Thai national to contract coronavirus in December and survived the illness after doctors isolated her in hospital.
Her symptoms included a fever and a bad cough, but she developed pneumonia while in quarantine and her family were worried she might not survive.
“I only knew (I had coronavirus) after I came to the hospital,” the mum of seven told Sky News. “I felt a bit sad, a bit shocked, tired and fatigued and I couldn’t eat.”
After 10 days her condition had improved and she was eventually discharged
A young Irishman, who did not want to be identified, was treated for coronavirus in hospital after returning home from a short trip and noticing his temperature had risen.
He told Irish broadcaster RTE’s Claire Byrne Liveshow: “The only symptoms I had was, basically, the fever. I didn’t have any respiratory problem, any lung inflammation, any cough, any sneezing, so was just the fever.
“I actually feel great now. I had a fever for a couple of days and now from Friday, I don’t have any more symptoms and so I am just here in the hospital being tested for the virus.”
The man said he was a “little worried” but “not scared” and said he cannot leave the hospital until two consecutive tests show he is negative for Covid-19.
He added: “The only thing I would say is that it is boring. I am here and I just have to read, watch some movies and that’s the only things. Apart from that I am fine.”
David and Sally Abel, from Oxfordshire, were passengers on board the Diamond Princess and had to be treated in hospital after testing positive for the virus while they were confined to their cabin.
In a post on his Facebook page David, 74, wrote: “Outside the hospital I came over a bit weird and nearly passed out.
“Every pore on my body opened and I was wheelchaired to our room.”
They were later both diagnosed with pneumonia, as well as coronavirus.
In a later update, the couple said that Sally had been given the all-clear after testing negative for coronavirus three times, but David had tested negative twice and positive once, which meant he couldn’t leave yet.