Kate Garraway has revealed her husband Derek Draper never had a cough or temperature – two of the most common symptoms – when he first contracted coronavirus in March of last year.
The ITV star touched on her husband’s health battle during an interview with Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Thursday’s Good Morning Britain, as she grilled the MP over reviewing long Covid-19 symptoms.
Dad-of-two Derek was rushed to hospital with coronavirus last March and was immediately ushered into intensive care as his condition deteriorated.
The virus has since left his system, but it has severely damaged his internal organs, leaving him in a state of “minimum consciousness”.
Urging Mr Hancock to take action, Kate said: “Time to review that [the list of Covid symptoms] as we know know that people haven’t gone to their [GP].
“Derek never had a cough, never had a temperature.”
Kate discussed her husband Derek’s health battle with the MP on Thursday’s show (Image: ITV)
The politician replied: “We absolutely always keep that under review. It’s very much a clinical judgement, exactly how we describe the symptoms and how many symptoms we put upfront.
“If you recall, at first we didn’t include the loss of taste and smell in the initial symptom list either. So that is reviewed and it’s an area where I just take the clinical advice directly, because obviously, I’m not a doctor so it’s best to take that clinical advice.
“We do continue to support research like this imperial research.”
Kate’s husband Derek was admitted to the hospital in March last year after contracting Covid-19 (Image: PA)
Kate then expressed her fears for Covid patients who have suffered in silence, confused by the government’s guidance on the symptoms of the virus.
She said: “So you’ll review symptoms then? Cause I worry how many lives have been lost by sort of discouraging people to go to their GP if they haven’t got those.”
Mr Hancock answered: “If you have any symptoms for anything that’s making you ill you can go to your GP.
Matt Hancock urged viewers to go to their GP if they have any health concerns (Image: ITV)
“The GP will know the longer list of symptoms for Covid. As you say, sometimes they’re more unusual perhaps. That’s why we have essentially the shorter list to really get that message across as that covers the vast majority of people.”
Earlier on the show, Kate revealed she hasn’t been able to visit Derek in hospital since last Christmas, following the tightening of restrictions due to the third lockdown.
The ITV star, who recently took some time off work due to a bout of illness, admitted the family was finding the experience “tough” to cope with.
She said: “I haven’t been able to see him since Christmas. He’s back to seeing strangers in masks.
“It’s tough.”
Good Morning Britain airs on weekdays at 6am on ITV.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
