31-year-old retail worker William Askins describes rapid deterioration with COVID-19

William Askins, from Enniskillen, was speaking after being treated with oxygen for the illness at the South West Acute Hospital.

He spoke out to dispel the myth that only older or more vulnerable cohorts of the population are affected by COVID-19.

Mr. Askins said: "I do work within retail and I have been working this entire time and I feel that it is possibly through work that I have picked it up.

"I first noticed my symptoms on Saturday and it would have been early afternoon and I went and got tested first thing on Sunday morning, got my positive result on Sunday evening, but by Monday evening I was really struggling to breath.

"The shock of how quickly I went south completely blew what I anticipated because I know two or three other people that have tested positive and for each of them it was the fever, the cough, the loss of taste and that seemed to be it. For myself, I could barely move."

Mr. Askins said he rang an ambulance at around 11.15 p.m. on Monday so ill had he become.

"I spent the first two days on oxygen. Thankfully now I'm off it again and hopefully on the right road to recovery," he said.

He said he wasn't expecting someone of his age to be affected so badly.

"Obviously I was very worried on Monday night when I was coming in because you hear the stories of the people that are coming into the hospitals, how they are full and how people are struggling in there.

"Well I must say the doctors, nurses, everyone has been fantastic since I've been in and thankfully it has been a quick turnaround whilst I have been in. I know not everyone is that lucky and I know not everyone is as unlucky as I was as well in that most can at least recover at home," he declared.