A 94-year-old woman from North Wales, who has spent several weeks in hospital with Covid-19, says she feels “great” and is looking forward to going home.

Eluned Mathias, from Y Fron in Gwynedd, became ill at home suffering with severe joint pain and then a high temperature, because she already suffered rheumatic problems, she didn’t think that her illness could be coronavirus as she hadn’t been out. As her condition worsened her daughter called a doctor and she was taken to Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor.

After being treated at Ysbyty Gwynedd she has now been transferred to Ysbyty Bryn Beryl to continue her recovery.

In response to the outbreak, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board have transformed community hospitals in Pwllheli, Dolgellau and Tywyn, closing the minor injury units to increase the available number of beds for Covid patients in Gwynedd and Anglesey. Units at other hospitals have been used to deal with other unrelated conditions.

Eluned said: “I feel very lucky to be where I am, because I always felt if I caught it I wouldn’t have much hope, because I had so many other things wrong with me.

“I felt myself getting more and more ill each day. I wasn’t able to do anything, just lie on the sofa, to tell you the truth.

“I was getting sicker and sicker and my daughter phoned and said she’d called the doctor. The doctor took one look at me and I said I had the virus.

“I said it was impossible because I hadn’t been out.”

Following her recovery Eluned added: “I feel great now and everyone is so kind, I’ll never be able to thank them enough. The staff at Bryn Beryl and Ysbyty Gwynedd, everyone has been amazing. They have been there fro me 24/7.”