A&E consultant who caught Covid-19 recalls 'uniquely grim disease'
An A&E consultant who caught Covid-19 has described the virus as a "uniquely grim disease."
Dr Tim Rogerson, who works at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, said he had seen a number of patients who were unwell with coronavirus before being diagnosed with it himself.
Speaking to ITV News, he said: "I knew that it was a uniquely grim disease and affects patients in different ways. I think I probably had a moderate selection of symptoms, I wasn't as unwell as some of my colleagues but it certainly took it out of me for a couple of weeks."
Dr Rogerson has since made a full recovery and has now returned to treating patients.
Aneurin Bevan University Health Board is one of the hardest hit areas of Wales, with 2081 confirmed cases of the virus.
In March, another doctor at the health board warned the area was seeing "the same pattern as was seen in Italy".
Dr Rogerson said although the area was "badly hit", he believes it is now "over the surge."
"We did see a surge of patients and it does seem that we were badly hit compared to some other areas in the UK.
"But we were well prepared beforehand, we managed to create spaces both in the emergency department and intensive care, and we did cope well with the surge in patients, and now we're in that steady state where we're over the surge and we've still got that capacity for those sick patients should we need them."
Dr Rogerson also said there had been a decline in patients seeking medical care for reasons other than coronavirus.
He told ITV Wales: "It is important that the public are reassured that we have segregated our flows into Covid and clean streams to keep patients safe in this challenging period.
"It is important that patients with emergencies are not put off from presenting to the emergency departments as there is a bigger risk of presenting too late."
Asked how it makes him feel seeing patients being discharged from hospital after recovering from the disease, he described it as "really uplifting".
"To see patients looking well and going home for rehabilitation has been really uplifting because we have seen some very challenging patients come in and it's great to see them improve and be discharged".