Man wakes from Covid-19 intensive care battle to find his mother and her partner have died from virus

A man has told of how he woke up from a medically-induced coma only to discover his whole household had died of coronavirus.

Scot Miller, 43, was battling Covid-19 in intensive care when his mother and her partner were killed by the disease, he told the BBC.

Mr Miller shared a flat in Edinburgh with his mother Norma, 76, who had dementia, and her 69-year-old partner.

It was only when he was brought out of a medically-induced coma that he found out about their deaths.

The 43-year-old said: "When I was upstairs in ICU fighting for my life, my mum was in a ward downstairs, basically passing away."

He said he first noticed something was wrong on March 21 when his mother had a fall and he was unable to get her back on her feet.

An ambulance took her to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where she tested positive for the virus.

Meanwhile Mr Miller, too, was succumbing to the disease and by the end of the week he had been admitted to the same hospital, in a critical condition.

His sister-in-law Sharlene Miller told the BBC: "On the Sunday morning we got a call to say Norma had passed away, and we got a call from the consultant to say that Scott was very ill as well.

“Then Norma's partner passed away the following Sunday."

After three weeks in intensive care, the 43-year-old’s condition improved and he was brought out of the coma.

A nurse then informed him of his mother’s death.

"When I came round, I just had a gut feeling that something had happened to mum and when the nurse told me it was just disbelief and shock. It was very hard," he said.

Four months on, Mr Miller is continuing his recovery and has no idea when he will be well enough to return to work.

He said he has been watching the rise in coronavirus cases across the UK with increasing alarm.

"People need to understand it's a real killer, I don't think people are really taking it seriously,” he said.