Manchester Met grad from Sheffield becomes UK’s first man to get coronavirus twice

And the second time was much worse


A 23-year-old from Sheffield has become the UK’s first man to catch coronavirus twice and live to tell the tale.

Manchester Met graduate Matthew Varcoe first fell ill in August 2020 with a terrible cough. He was diagnosed with coronavirus and left bed-ridden for 10 days.

But just one month later the engineer was struck by the virus again. The second time was “far more severe” and he struggled to breathe with a “seriously high temperature”.

He said: “The first time I had it, I was a bit worried. I’d heard stories about people being hospitalised, so it was a relief when I recovered so quickly. I thought it was all over.

“I went back to work after my self-isolation period and felt almost back to normal but then I started getting symptoms again at the start of September.

Credit: SWNS

“I couldn’t believe it when I tested positive but as soon as the results came through, I felt awful and I knew I definitely had it again.

“I had the same symptoms as last time but they were far more severe – I had a seriously high temperature, I didn’t have the energy to do anything, I was barely eating.

“I felt awful and I was struggling with my breath. My lungs felt like I couldn’t breathe properly and it was much harder to take a breath.”

Matthew avoided hospital on both occasions but wanted to speak out about the second battle with the virus being much worse than the first.

Featured image via SWNS.

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