Pregnant woman with coronavirus says she's 'fighting for me and baby' in tearful video

26 March 2020, 16:24

By Rachael Kennedy

@rkennedy228

A 39-year-old pregnant woman with coronavirus has made a tearful plea from her hospital bed, urging people to stay inside to stop the spread of the disease.

Karen Mannering, from Herne Bay, Kent, is 26 weeks pregnant and has said she is now "fighting for me and my baby" after her Covid-19 diagnosis.

The mother of three also revealed on Facebook that she has pneumonia in both her lungs and has "never felt so close to death" since getting ill a fortnight ago.

Speaking in a tearful video from her hospital bed, she added: "It's not worth going out. You can get another time.

"I have three kids at home and a husband that I can't see. I don't know where I caught [the virus] from but I'm very ill."

She added: "And I'm telling you now - if you go to meet your friends for a stupid beer and a scenic walk because the weather's nice, you're going to take this home and you're going to kill someone. One of your family members."

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Mrs Mannering said she didn't know how the disease would affect her unborn baby, but that she was "fighting for my life for us now."

"I look and feel absolutely dreadful," she continued. "I am bed bound and can't even do anything for myself anymore."

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The plea on Wednesday echoed similar sentiments made by another coronavirus patient in hospital in Northern Ireland.

Mark McClurgh has shared several videos of himself from his bed at Ulster Hospital near Belfast, warning the virus "is deadly and it is dangerous".

He has spent much of the last week in intensive care fighting for his life after being diagnosed with Covid-19.

"This coronavirus is deadly and it's dangerous. Coronavirus wants to kill you, it wants to take all the life out of your lungs so that you can't even breathe," he said in one video.

In another, he added: "Please, please listen to all the advice of the government, keep on social distancing, because we will get through this, but we have to at this moment protect the NHS.

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"We must protect the heart and soul of Northern Ireland at this moment because our NHS staff, they need us.

"I've seen their faces, I've spoken to them. Some of them have come to terms with the fact they are going to get coronavirus.

"Let that sink in. Do your part. Stay at home."