Kate Garraway issues a stark warning to lockdown rulebreakers amid husband Derek’s six-month battle

‘You don’t want this in your life!’ Tearful Kate Garraway issues a stark warning to lockdown rulebreakers… as her husband Derek’s six-month COVID-19 battle becomes ‘longest in the UK

Kate Garraway has issued a stark warning to people breaching lockdown guidelines as her husband Derek Draper continues to recover from COVID-19.

Fighting back tears the presenter, 53, revealed her husband’s parents had been unable to visit Derek since he’d been hospitalised back in March, warning viewers: ‘You don’t want this in your life!’

It comes following reports that Derek’s battle with coronavirus has become the ‘longest in the UK,’ after spending 184 days in and out of intensive care.

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Serious: Kate Garraway has issued a stark warning to people breaching lockdown guidelines as her husband Derek Draper continues to recover from COVID-19

An emotional Kate urged viewers to keep following the government guidelines, after host Susanna Reid asked for her feelings on the nation’s growing fatigue towards masks and social distancing. 

She said: ‘ I have huge sympathy with people who are fed up with it. I think if you haven’t been directly touched by it, you haven’t seen the devastation, your life has been devastated, your livelihood, your ability to feel a sense of joy, you’re going to get frustrated.

‘It does make me tempted to show a pic of Derek in his current state and say ”you don’t want this in your life. You don’t know who it will affect and how.” So stick to it.’

Fighting it: The presenter, 53, revealed her husband's parents had been unable to visit Derek since he'd been hospitalised back in March (Kate and Derek are pictured in December 2019)

Fighting it: The presenter, 53, revealed her husband’s parents had been unable to visit Derek since he’d been hospitalised back in March (Kate and Derek are pictured in December 2019)

‘There’s huge confusion around it, but we kind of know wearing a mask, social distancing, we know the basics, and we have to do our best in the muddle.’

‘There are so many shades of grey. If we stick to basics we can hopefully get through it.’ 

Struggling to fight back tears, Kate then added: ‘Derek’s mum and dad haven’t been able to see Derek.

‘If they can go six months without giving a hug to their son, who’s so desperately ill, the rest of us can probably get through.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to depress everybody. That’s the reality of getting caught up in the virus directly.’  

On Monday it was reported that Kate’s husband Derek has reportedly become the longest surviving patient with coronavirus, after spending 184 days in and out of intensive care. 

The former lobbyist, 53, was first hospitalised with the disease on March 29, he was on a ventilator and put in an induced coma shortly thereafter before he was woken up in July, but progress is said to be ‘very slow.’

According to a report from The Sun on Monday, Derek is one of ‘only a handful’ of people to be in hospital for six months with coronavirus. 

A source speaking to the publication claimed: ‘Kate has been so brave and her strength is awe-inspiring. But the truth is that progress is very, very slow. 

‘Derek has now been hospitalised for six months which makes him one of only a handful of people who have been in hospital for this long.

‘It’s incredibly tough for Kate though because some days he shows signs of improvement, and then 24 hours later he has taken a worrying turn for the worse. It’s literally one step forward, two steps back.’ 

The source went on to claim that Kate is thankful Derek is ‘still here’ as it means she has hope he will pull through after so many have lose their loved ones.

Derek was hospitalised after suffering serious complications from Covid-19 and has remained in intensive care ever since, in a minimally conscious state from which no one knows if he will ever recover.