'It hit me like a train': First Brit to contract coronavirus describes symptoms

The first known British coronavirus victim has described what is was like to catch the infection, saying: “It hit me like a train”.

Conor Reed, who is manager at a school in Wuhan, China, became the first British man to catch coronavirus after contracting it in November.

Writing in the Daily Mail, he has described how it felt to get the illness and how he recovered.

The 25-year-old, from Llandudno, North Wales, described how the illness progressed, going from feeling like a cold to seeing him end up in hospital.

On day seven of his experience, after a brief recovery from what he thought was a cold, Reed describes feeling like he has flu, writing: “The symptoms hit me this afternoon like a train and, unless there’s an overnight miracle, I will not be going to work tomorrow.”

He goes on to describe how the illness worsened, despite him fighting it with hot toddies, with the occasional day of feeling better.

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On the 12th day, Reed writes: “I have never been this ill in my life” and says he felt like he was suffocating, prompting the decision to go to hospital where he was prescribed antibiotics for pneumonia.

It is only on day 36 that Reed became aware that Chinese officials have become concerned about a “new virus that is taking hold in the city”, and over two weeks later, on day 52, he was notified that he had contracted coronavirus.

He finishes by pointing out that his attempts to cure himself of the illness with hot toddies was only because he had no idea what was wrong with him, writing: “I wish it had been that easy.”