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A woman diagnosed with Covid-19 has warned others not to take their symptoms lightly.

Claire Gale, 38, from Cardiff, was admitted to hospital after suffering with a number of symptoms.

The 38-year-old, who has asthma, went in to work last Tuesday but was sent home by her manager after feeling unwell.

She said: “I went in to work feeling fine but by the afternoon I started to get flu like symptoms. My manager was informed and sent me home straight away.

“As soon as I got home I could feel my chest was hurting a lot and I had a sore throat. If there was no coronavirus I would’ve just gone to work as normal because you just power through.

“It got to the stage where I had aches, pains and my body was constantly hot and cold. Before I knew it, I was out of breath walking up the stairs.

“I then needed to take a pump just to finish a sentence and it felt like someone was sitting on my chest, I felt like it was getting crushed.”

Five days later, Clare phoned the NHS helpline before ringing her out-of-hours GP as well - who told her to go to a hospital immediately.

She then later phoned the our-of-hours GP who told her to visit Llandough Hospital immediately.

Claire said: “Me and my husband went to the hospital and they took me to the side straight away and told me I couldn’t see my husband or son.

“It was frightening and there were a million things going through my head. I thought 'what if i had passed it on to somebody else? What if my son grows up without me?’ You just don’t know what to think.

“I got taken in to a room where they ran a few different tests on me. They did an ECG test and a number of blood tests too.”

Doctors and consultants visited Claire the next morning and told her she had Covid-19.

“I didn’t really know what to think when they told me because you start to think the worst. They told me to self-isolate myself at home and after 14 days I would be fine.

“I was initially really scared and was worried for my son as he already had been missing me and doesn’t understand what is happening.”

She was sent home with information packs on coronavirus and told to self isolate.

Claire decided to post an update on social media hoping her friends and family would understand what she is going through.

However, it has been shared over a thousand times and she hopes people will learn to take their symptoms seriously and also look out for others.

She added: “So many people have messaged me to thank me for posting the status. If i can help one person then that’s great.

“One woman messaged me to tell me her husband only took his symptoms seriously in the middle of the night.”

Claire is now recovering at home and has another five days of self isolation.

She has also put signs up in her window at home to inform others that she has tested positive so people can stay away if needed.