England great Ian Botham claims he had COVID-19 but mistook virus for 'bad flu'
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Former England all-rounder and one of the icons of cricket, Ian Botham has claimed that he got infected by COVID-19 earlier this year but mistook it for a “bad case of flu”. The dreaded virus has infected over 10 million people worldwide while killing more than 500,000.
Former England all-rounder and one of the icons of cricket, Ian Botham has claimed that he got infected by COVID-19 earlier this year but mistook it for a “bad case of flu”. The dreaded virus has infected over 10 million people worldwide while killing more than 500,000.
Botham said that he had COVID-19 six months ago at a time when no one even knew the details regarding the virus.
It was very much a sort of in the dark: Ian Botham
"I think the thing to remember is that six months ago no-one even knew what this was, hadn't heard of it," Botham told Good Morning Britain.
"I've actually had it. I had it at the end of December, beginning of January, and I thought I had a bad case of flu. It's amazing how long it has been around, we don't know all the details. It was very much a sort of in the dark, let's see what happens."
The former English great urged people to show patience while hoping things will be better in the next couple of weeks with a hope that people can move around freely.
"I think people have been responding extremely well. I hope they show a bit more patience over the next couple of weeks or so, so we can get to a situation where everybody can move around," he said.
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With UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling the cricket ball ‘a natural vector of disease’, the decision to put recreational cricket on hold was slammed by former cricketers but Botham is of the view that cricket will be back very shortly as there is no real physical contact in the sport.
"I think cricket will be back very shortly. Cricket can be played. There's no real physical contact there, you can keep your social distancing quite easily," said the 64-year-old.
England’s three-match Test series against West Indies is set to start from July 8 with the Joe Root-led side scheduled to host Pakistan after the rubber against Windies.