‘The healthy are not immune’: Nurse in her 30’s without underlying health issues in intensive care with coronavirus

Despite being described as “normally fit and healthy”, Areema Nasreen is on a ventilator at Walsall Manor hospital after being infected with coronavirus.

The 36-year-old mother of three is in intensive care after testing positive for the virus on Friday. Ten days ago she first developed symptoms including body aches, a fever and a cough.

Her sister Kazeema Nasreen who works as a healthcare assistant at the same hospital, told Birmingham Live:

My sister who is an amazing nurse on the front line and who always helps so many has now caught this virus. She is critically ill in ICU, on a ventilator and fighting for her life.

I want everyone to know how dangerous this is. My sister is only 36 and is normally fit and healthy.

People are not taking this seriously enough. She is young – it is not just the elderly who are at risk.

The news has shocked many online who are desperately begging others to start taking the dangers posed by the virus more seriously.

As an NHS employee based at Walsall Manor hospital, Nasreen may have been exposed to a higher dosage of the virus when initially infected. A study published in The Lancetargues that the amount of virus in the blood at first infection directly relates to the severity of the illness suffered after.

There have also been calls for the UK to follow other countries by going in to lock-down as people continue to ignore advice to practice social distancing.

A heartbreaking video was recently shared online of another woman in her thirties describing her symptoms while hospitalised with Covid-19.

We hope they both recover soon.