Greta Thunberg says she may have coronavirus and is isolating with her father after displaying symptoms
- Greta Thunberg says she contracted coronavirus and is now in self-isolation
- Teenage activist said her father Svante was also suffering from the disease
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
Greta Thunberg says she may have had coronavirus and has self-isolated at home with her father.
The teenage climate activist said she appeared to have been infected along with her dad, actor Svante Thunberg.
Both began having symptoms after a recent train tour of Europe together and so have been in isolation.
They were travelling in Europe before lockdowns were imposed across the continent.
The 17-year-old said in a video published by the New Scientist that her father had ‘more intense symptoms’.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg taking part in the rally ”Europe Climate Strike” in Brussels earlier this month
She said: ‘For the last two weeks I have been isolated and then I got the virus.
‘I came home from central Europe and then I isolated myself from the beginning, because I thought I might as well as I’ve been on trains and so I don’t want to put anyone else at risk.
‘But then I started feeling some symptoms after a few days. But the important thing is that I didn’t basically feel that I ill.
‘At the same time my father was feeling much more intense symptoms.’
Thunberg added that she wanted to raise awareness about how easy it was to transmit the infection without realising.
She said: ‘I didn’t basically feel that I was ill. It could be that I was feeling unusually tired, I was coughing a bit.
‘That is because I’m not in a risk group, I didn’t get it very seriously. That also is very dangerous because you don’t know you have it.
Greta Thunberg’s father Svante (pictured) was also said to be suffering from coronavirus that he contracted while touring Europe with his daughter
‘If I wouldn’t have been for my father getting it at the same time and much more intense than me, I might not even have noticed it that I was sick.’
‘Many people don’t feel symptoms at all, or very mild symptoms, but it can be contagious.
‘That is something I want to communicate, that many people don’t feel symptoms at all, or very mild symptoms, but it can still be contagious. So you have to really practice social distancing whether you feel ill or not.’
Thunberg went on to explain that in Sweden patients cannot get tested for COVID-19 unless hospital treatment is needed.
She added: ‘So of course I’m not 100 per cent sure I have got it. But it would have been very strange if it would have been something else, because it just fits very… especially with my father’s reaction, it’s exactly fitting with the symptoms.’