"Hit by a truck": what a severe case of coronavirus feels like

Conor Reed, a 25-year-old Welshman working in Wuhan, contracted the coronavirus in late 2019, suffering first common cold-like symptoms, then a severe flu, and ultimately pneumonia which hospitalized him and left him struggling to breathe.

Lauren Anthony reports.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH RESIDENT OF WUHAN, CONNOR REED, SAYING: "... that felt like I'd been hit by a truck" Hit by a truck.

That's what it feels like to have a severe case of coronavirus.

Connor Reed, from Britain, was hospitalized after the virus brought on pneumonia - and left him struggling to breathe.

And all of that in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak - and also where he lives and works.

He talked to Reuters about his recovery.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH RESIDENT OF WUHAN, CONNOR REED, SAYING: "I first had a cold - just a everyday cold, a thing that everybody gets.

I then got better before I got worse.

So from the cold I progressed into the flu.

Now I've had the flu a few times in my life and this was definitely the worst flu that I've had.

From the flu, I got better again, and that's when I (then) had pneumonia.

The pneumonia stage was when I went to the hospital because I thought it was quite serious [...] it was quite debilitating in regards to just generally feeling unwell.

The lights were affecting me, (and) sound.

I just wanted to rest.

It really wasn't great.

However, it wasn't life threatening.

When I had pneumonia, that's the point where it was getting quite serious.

It felt like I could only use half my lung capacity, and every breath that I took wasn't enough and I just couldn't get enough air [...] Everything's changed.

Everybody's taken the time to adjust and we all have adjusted.

It's a case of people doing the best with what they have."