Brian May still testing positive for COVID on day eight
Brian May has revealed he is still testing positive for COVID on day eight - despite being near the end of his isolation period.
The Queen rocker, 74, said that he thought he'd caught COVID at a mask-free birthday party, as did wife Anita Dobson, but are fully vaccinated and have had relatively mild symptoms.
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But as his self-isolation period reaches its final couple of days, he shared photos of positive coronavirus tests on Instagram that showed the virus was still present in his system on day eight.
May posted: "Day 8 for me - the 8th day after my body was invaded by enough Coronavirus organisms to bring me down. Firstly, I think I was a little too optimistic yesterday, imagining that the red “T“ line was looking fainter. It’s a different test kit today - but the lines look pretty much of equal intensity today. So I’m assuming the battle inside my body is still in progress.
"It also feels like it - that dry wheezy cough has returned today, and there is a kind of fountain of irritation on one side of my sinuses. I also keep falling asleep - not in a peaceful kind of way, but in a “I can’t keep my eyes open another second” kind of way. So it’s a damn good job this happened at a time when I’m NOT crazy busy as usual."
People testing positive for COVID are advised to isolate for 10 days and May told his followers he was "fundamentally ok" but feeling "frustrated at not being able to be out and about at this time of year".
May has also said of the birthday lunch, which he has been unsure whether to attend, "in retrospect, perhaps we made the wrong decision".
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He urged his fans to keep taking precautions and not do as he had done as he wrote: "Cheers all, and good luck out there. I say again … it’s very apparent now that although the lateral flow test is a useful guide, if you get a negative result tomorrow morning, you cannot 100% guarantee that you are not infected and infectious all day.
"So for the sake of everyone around you, keep the caution going - masks, social distance, common sense - and only go to a gathering in an enclosed space if you are really sure the risk is worth it. As my dear Mum used to say (in half-jest) — ”Do as I say - not as I do!"
Watch: Brian May battling 'horrible' COVID-19
