Boris Johnson's fiance Carrie Symonds has reported being bedridden over the past week suffering coronavirus symptoms, but added that she is making a recovery.
"I've spent the past week in bed with the main symptoms of Coronavirus. I haven't needed to be tested and, after seven days of rest, I feel stronger and I'm on the mend," she wrote on her Twitter page on Saturday. "Being pregnant with COVID-19 is obviously worrying. To other pregnant women, please do read and follow the most up to date guidance which I found to be very reassuring," Symonds added, accompanying her post with a link to the guidelines.
Being pregnant with Covid-19 is obviously worrying. To other pregnant women, please do read and follow the most up to date guidance which I found to be v reassuring: https://t.co/JPvIDeB3l6
— Carrie Symonds (@carriesymonds) April 4, 2020
Symonds statement comes a day after Prime Minister Johnson issued an update on his status. Revealing to Britons that he had come down with the coronavirus on March 28, Johnson reported Friday that he would continue to self-isolate owing to a high temperature, one of the virus's known symptoms.
Symonds joins multiple high-ranking UK persons, including Johnson, Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Prince Charles, who have contracted COVID-19. The 71-year-old Prince of Wales, who is within the virus's high risk group, recovered from the virus this week, and appeared in public to open a new coronavirus field hospital in London and to discuss the "strange, frustrating and often distressing experience" of the UK's nation-wide lockdown, while praising the efforts of the National Health Service.
The British government has flip flopped on its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, initially going for a 'herd immunity' approach, before joining other nations in introducing a series of restrictive measures to try to slow the virus's spread.
Neither approach has received universal support, with Graham Medley, a professor of infectious disease modeling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine recently warning that the government may ultimately have to make the difficult choice between the mortality projected from the coronavirus, and issues which come about as a result of a protracted lockdown, including unemployment, crime, food poverty and mental illness.
According to the latest Johns Hopkins University of Medicine figures, the UK has a total of 42,400 cases of COVID-19, including 4,320 deaths.
