A CONCERNED MOTHER from the Bradford district who faces a nervous wait to see if her and her family will test positive for coronavirus has spoken of the anxiety she is feeling.

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, says she is one of the people who were tested for coronavirus at Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) during the week.

Bradford Royal Infirmary is testing people for coronavirus in new isolation pods

The woman has been told that she will receive her test results - via a phone call from the Department of Public Health - in 7 to 10 days.

While on holiday in Hong Kong, one of her four children began to fall ill, before the symptoms spread to the rest of the family.

Upon returning to the UK, the family underwent testing for coronavirus at BRI on Wednesday, as Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust confirmed, in a statement issued the following day, that it had put NHS 111 pods in place for testing, in line with national guidance.

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"Before, people were getting their test results back within 48 hours, but now, because so many are being tested, we're having to wait a lot longer", the mother-of-four said.

"Just two days before we were due to come back from Hong Kong, one of the children got ill. The rest of us then started getting short of breath and having really bad headaches.

"We notified BRI - we were told to go there for testing, but we had to wait in the car and we were met with people in hazmat suits, who stood about ten metres away, before we went into the 111 pod.

"They took two swabs from our mouths and and two from our noses and we were told we had to spend 14 days in isolation."

The woman and her children have since self-isolated at home, with the woman saying they feel "trapped."

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"One of my children was crying, because of the situation. We feel breathless and have headaches. I had an upset stomach at one point and it also feels a bit like you're drowning in mucus.

"There's nothing we can do but sit and wait. I'm more concerned for my children - one of them has a high temperature and I obviously can't take them to the hospital or the doctor, so it's really bad.

"We've been told that we'll get food and essentials delivered to our door, but they don't always come - I went out to the shops once, even though we're not supposed to, because I had no other choice.

"The children understand the situation. They've been doing some of their school work at home since they can't physically go to school.

"We weren't the first people in Bradford to be tested for coronavirus - BRI told us that others had, too.

There have been 15 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK so far, following 7,132 people being tested.

The UK Government said that people returning from Hubei province in China, Iran, lockdown areas in northern Italy and special care zones in South Korea in the last 14 days should immediately self-isolate at home and call NHS 111.

People returning from the rest of China and Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore should self-isolate if they develop symptoms of cough or fever or shortness of breath, and those returning from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and northern Italy above Pisa should also self-isolate if they show symptoms.