The media discovered the first case of COVID-19 in the UK

A resident of Essex in England is believed to be the first person to contract COVID-19 in the UK. The Mirror newspaper reports.

Joan Rogers, a 51-year-old cleaning lady from Colchester, felt unwell at the end of January. She thought it was the flu, but two weeks later she was hospitalized.

“I felt a bit like a cheat when the ambulance came for me, because I thought I just had the flu,” Rogers said.

A day after hospitalization, the woman was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was put into an artificial coma and connected to a ventilator. It is noted that doctors did not take tests from the woman for COVID-19, since it was believed that the coronavirus only applies to people who arrived in the kingdom from abroad.

In July, Rogers passed an antibody test, which showed positive results. The woman claims that she did not travel abroad before falling ill. It is noted that the woman still suffers from the consequences of the coronavirus, including severe fatigue and muscle pain.

“I think this will be the very first documented [COVID-19] case in the UK. It is quite reasonable to believe that [the virus] spread in January, ”said François Balloux, professor at University College London.

Previously, it was believed that the first case of coronavirus in the UK was a man from the British county of Surrey. After it was announced that “patient zero” is a 75-year-old woman from Nottinghamshire. She was diagnosed with COVID-19 on February 21. She later passed away and became the first patient in Britain to die as a result of infection with the coronavirus.

The day before it became known about the death of the oldest resident of Great Britain Joan Hockard, who was 112 years old. Now the oldest person in the kingdom is 111-year-old Lillian Priest.