Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has opened up about contracting coronavirus and said that the illness “floored” her.

Speaking on The Late Late Show on Friday night, she said that she had never “experienced anything like it”.

“It literally floored me, I never experienced anything like it.

“I have never been as sick as I was with it, every part of me hurt, it hurt to open my eyes, my eye sockets ached.

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“This didn’t feel like a flu, this is a horrible horrible virus,” she said.

Ms McDonald has had close experiences with the virus ever since the first case was confirmed in Ireland, which was at the school her children attend in Glasnevin.

Her family entered self-isolation after her children came back from a trip abroad and said that the household was “ahead of the curve” in dealing with precautions.

“Because the first case of the virus was identified in the school that my children go to, we were kind of ahead of the curve in terms of being extremely careful.

“I couldn’t believe that this virus came into my house.”

She said she had “no idea” how she contracted the illness a she had limited the number of people she came into contact with.

Ms McDonald also said that she suffers with asthma and that she doesn’t have “great lungs”.

“I was exhausted, I couldn’t sustain a conversation.

“I didn’t have consistent fever and I had some respiratory symptoms.”

She added that she was frightened at times especially towards the end of the illness when she had shortness of breath and stabbing pains in her right lung.

“At that moment my husband panicked, ‘is this now the real deal kicking in?’

“As it turns out, it was a bacterial infection in my right lung and it got diagnosed very quickly.

“That was the point that frightened me,” she added.

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