Coronavirus survivor, 25, says he had "wrong attitude" because he was young

A 25-year-old man who had “completely the wrong attitude” has warned young people not to underestimate coronavirus after he spent a week in hospital.

Calum Wishart said he did not take the virus seriously until he caught it and was rushed to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh after he took a turn for the worse.

His sister believes he would have died if he had been living alone when he caught the virus and he is now urging others to stay inside.

Calum, who lives in Paisley, Renfrewshire, had been self-isolating in Edinburgh after he developed symptoms on a visit to his parents before the lockdown.

He was admitted to the ERI in the early hours of Saturday, March 28, after his health deteriorated.He spent a week being treated on oxygen.

Calum Wishart said when news of the pandemic first broke his "naive arrogance" led him to believe he would be OK because he is only 25-years-old. (BBC)

Speaking from his hospital bed, he said: “The coughing is so aggressive that it gives me massive pain all over my chest and a lot of the times induces the vomiting and diarrhoea, sometimes all three at once.

“Sleep is pretty much impossible as well which is excruciating because that is literally the only escape from the horror of the symptoms.”

His sister Rachel said he had no underlying health conditions, plays sport and was fit and healthy before he caught the virus.

She said: “Calum plays sport, he’s healthy, he’s got a good diet.“He’s the last person in our family I thought would get the virus.

"I can’t think about what would have happened if he had been in that flat alone, I honestly think he would have died, it took a really bad turn so suddenly.”

After having one of the worst weeks of his life in hospital, now recovered, Calum is urging others to taking the virus seriously and not go outside.

He told  BBC Breakfast today: “I had the completely wrong attitude.

"I would not say I was hugging strangers or anything like that, I think I just underestimated the real impact of it.

"I had the perspective that because I was young it would not affect me, that it would be like a kind of flu."

Rachel added: “Young people think they’re invincible, they think that it’ll just be a cold or a 24-hour bug.“People need to listen, they need to take this seriously.”