Greta Thunberg says she may have contracted coronavirus and has self-isolated at home with her father. The teenage climate activist said...
Greta Thunberg says she may have contracted 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 for the last weeks, she said.
They were travelling in Europe before lockdowns were imposed by many governments across the continent in a bid to halt the spread of the virus.
In an Instagram post today, Thunberg said she suffered shivers, a sore throat, a cough and felt tired after travelling with her father from Brussels.
The Swedish 17-year-old said in a video published by the New Scientist today that her father had 'more intense symptoms' such as a fever and that she has now recovered.
In an Instagram post today, Greta Thunberg said she suffered shivers, a sore throat, a cough and felt tired after travelling with her father from Brussels
In a video published by the New Scientist today Thunberg said her father had 'more intense symptoms' such as a fever while she only had 'mild symptoms'
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 ill.
'At the same time my father was feeling much more intense symptoms.'
Thunberg said in her Instagram post that she self-isolated in an apartment away from her sister and mother after noticing symptoms 10 days ago.
She added that she wanted to raise awareness about how easy it was to transmit the infection without realising.
Greta Thunberg's father Svante (pictured a press conference during the COP24 summit) was also said to be suffering from coronavirus that he contracted while touring Europe with his daughter
Teenage campaigner Greta Thunberg said she may have contracted coronavirus with her father while on trains in Europe.She is pictured during a Friday for Future event last December
The campaigner 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.
'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.'
On social media the teenager called on young people to protect groups at greater risk from the disease.
Thunberg went on to explain that in Sweden patients cannot get tested for COVID-19 unless hospital treatment is needed.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg taking part in the rally ''Europe Climate Strike'' in Brussels earlier this month
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.'
Coronavirus has been spreading rapidly across the globe since it came to light last December, reaching more than 160 countries and claiming more than 17,000 lives and with over 400,000 cases.
The youth climate strike movement that Thunberg inspired drew millions onto the streets around the world in 2019.
This year, however, faced with the emerging pandemic, young Fridays for Future climate activists have taken their weekly actions digital, using the Twitter hashtag #ClimateStrikeOnline.
Thunberg urged young climate activists, many now stuck at home as schools close, to help others through the COVID-19 epidemic and to keep up their activism in safe ways.
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