'This virus is not a joke for young people': Schoolgirl, 17, urges other teenagers to get vaccinated after Covid put her in hospital

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A 17-year-old who was hospitalised with complications from Covid has urged young people to 'take this virus seriously' and get vaccinated.

Maisy Evans, from Newport, South Wales, was rushed to The Grange University Hospital earlier this month after testing positive for the virus. 

The schoolgirl, who has received a single coronavirus jab, was soon diagnosed with a blood clot in her lung following numerous blood tests, X-rays and CT scans - which doctors said was Covid-related. 

Ms Evans, who is a member of the Welsh Youth Parliament, has now urged other teenagers to 'take this virus seriously'.

The 17-year-old said she received her first Covid vaccine on August 11 but soon began to feel unwell and initially believed the symptoms were a side-effect of the vaccine.

But when she developed a cough she decided to take a Covid test on August 14 which came back positive. 

Maisy Evans (left and right in hospital), 17, from Newport, Wales, was rushed to The Grange University Hospital where she was diagnosed with a Covid-related blood clot in her lung

Ms Evans then went into ten days of isolation and said during this time she was 'constantly tired and in pain'.

On August 25, the schoolgirl's mother called NHS Direct as her symptoms worsened and first responders attending to the teenager found her temperature, heart rate high and blood pressure were high.

With fears that Ms Evans might have meningitis, medics rushed the schoolgirl to hospital where a chest X-ray revealed she had small blood clot on her lung - which doctors said was Covid-related.

Ms Evans told ITV News: 'I've probably had every possible symptom. I've had the cough, the high temperature, the shakes, the sickness, the dizziness, the shortness of breath, the excruciating headaches, the body aches. 

'You name a symptom - it's hit me. I even lost my sense of smell and taste. The breathlessness was one of the last symptoms to develop.'

Ms Evans, who also spent several days on oxygen support, has now urged more people to get vaccinated.

She said: 'This virus is not a joke for young people and those eligible must get vaccinated. Rest assured, I'm on the long road to recovery!'  

She added: 'I'm 17 years old and I'm currently taking antibiotics, steroids, morphine and blood thinners.

The schoolgirl, who is a member of the Welsh Youth Parliament, has urged other teenagers to take the virus seriously 

'Please continue to take this virus seriously, even if you consider yourself generally fit and well like myself.

'I'm expecting to stay a couple more nights because at the moment I'm unable to regulate my own oxygen levels.'

Ms Evans, who initially feared she had meningitis or sepsis, has also thanked the NHS staff on her ward for her care and for 'treating her so well'. 

She added: 'I'd like to take a moment to thank the fantastic staff at The Grange University Hospital for treating me so well!

'It's a pill almost as hard to swallow as the enormous amoxicillin ones, but I don't think I'd be here without the staff on this ward.'            

It comes as Britain recorded a further 61 Covid deaths and 33,196 more new cases on Sunday, according to official data. 

The number of new cases represents a 3 per cent rise on the new daily cases from last Sunday which stood at 32,253 while only 49 daily deaths were recorded.

Infections in the last seven days rose by 5.8 per cent on the week before, and weekly deaths jumped by 16 per cent.

This means the new positive test rate over the last seven days is 240,528 while the number of deaths within 28 days of a positive test has been recorded as 797 - an increase of 110.

The Sunday figure for fatalities tends to be lower than weekdays due to a delay by some hospitals in reporting deaths. 

Meanwhile, Government data up to August 28 shows that of the 90,641,097 Covid jabs given in the UK, 48,001,316 were first doses, a rise of 42,388 on the previous day.

Some 42,639,781 were second doses, an increase of 132,180.

The number of patients admitted to hospitals today has been recorded as 969 while the figure has reached 6,294 over the last week - an increase of 6.7 per cent.  

It comes as a statistical analysis of vaccination data suggests millions of people missed having their second coronavirus vaccines by the time they were due to have them.

Figures published by the Government show that by August 18, a total of 1.4 million people who were due to have their second Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine had missed having it.

For the Oxford/AstraZeneca intake, between 400,000 and 600,000 people also eligible for their second dose by that date had not come forward.

The latest breakdown of figures were published by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency but taken from Department of Health and Social Care statistics.