Thousands of people across the UK have tested positive for Covid-19 since the outbreak began.
Many more have experienced symptoms of the killer virus, but have not had their cases confirmed.
One such person is Jacqui Dancer, an Australian mum currently living in London.
The parent recently spoke out about how coronavirus impacted her, explaining how she gradually felt symptoms coming on, but wasn’t too worried, until she realised what she was feeling was more than just your run-of-the-mill hot flush – she had a fever.
Writing for Mamamia.com.au Jacqui shared the other symptoms she had and the advice she was given by a doctor after calling 111.
The parent admitted to having had a dry cough for several months, which had become more persistent over the last few days.
She then started to feel hot, with slight chills, so took her temperature and was shocked to see a reading of 37.9.
After telling her husband and child she thought she had coronavirus, she went to self-isolate in a spare bedroom, where she was confined to her bed, completely exhausted.
The next morning, her symptoms had worsened.
As an Australian living in London, I knew early on that I was at a higher risk because I couldn’t work from home and therefore I had to catch the tube into the city. I took the social distancing protocols seriously, and I found myself getting very angry on my journey as so many people were ignoring the government’s advice.A good example is when I witnessed 5 staff members at Waterloo Station huddled in what looked like a rugby scrum, listening to Boris Johnson’s speech about social distancing. The next day I read that the tube staff were dropping like flies." content="https://mulpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Woman-who-had-coronavirus-warns-fifth-day-of-illness-is.jpg"/>
She recalls: “Breakfast was delivered to my door and I dragged myself out of bed and struggled to eat it. I felt slightly nauseous and to top it off, I had diarrhoea.
“I spoke to a doctor. He went through my symptoms and told me that it was likely I had Covid-19. He advised me to drink lots of water, get lots of rest and take paracetamol when needed.”
In addition to this, she claims the doctor told her that she needed to “look out for” day five, as that’s when she could start having breathing difficulties.
He also reminded her that she would need to self-isolate for seven days and those she lived with would need to do so for 14 days.
Sure enough, Jacqui did experience breathing difficulties, waking up in the middle of the night before the fifth day.
She panicked, but the next morning she practiced some meditation and breathing exercises, which made her feel “lighter”.
The mum’s symptoms persisted for 12 days in total, at which point she says she felt well enough to leave the spare room.
What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
The main symptoms of coronavirus according to the NHS are:
- a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
- a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
Some people who have tested positive for Covid-19 have also reported having headaches, a loss of smell and taste, fatigue and sore eyes.
If you experience these symptoms, do not visit your GP, instead use the 111 online coronavirus service to find out what to do.
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