Ben Everitt, MP for Milton Keynes North, is currently self-isolating as he is showing symptoms of coronavirus.
Although he has not been tested, Ben believes that he has a mild case of the virus. "The symptoms that everyone knows about are the fever and the cough, but for me, that came a bit later," said Ben.
"For me, I felt completely drained, and, if I'm honest I was sort of bewildered. Confusion is actually one of the symptoms, so it took a while for me to realise I had it. I thought for a while it was just drained, knackered and run down, but then all the other symptoms came and it was quite obvious what I had."
Speaking to MKFM, Ben Everitt MP, who is on day five of self-isolation, added: "[I am feeling] much perkier. I've still got a banging headache, I've still got aching muscles. Yesterday, it felt like I had fallen down the stairs, really sore all over, so that's definitely receding a bit. I'm feeling brighter than I was yesterday, and yesterday brighter than I was the day before. There is improvement there."
When asked about how coronavirus has affected The Government, Ben Everitt said it has "affected the whole thing fundamentally".
"The whole apparatus of Government has now been shifted to deal entirely with coronavirus, so it's essentially as if we're a war Government now. This is the one thing we are dealing with," he added.
"I'm obviously isolating at the moment, but I have been using video conferences to talk with my team and to my colleagues, so we can continue to support the people in Milton Keynes North and keep in touch via phone and email with the various departments in government.
"The offers of help from the community, from constituencies and from businesses has been fantastic and one of the main roles of MPs at the minute is to channel those offers of help through to the correct places.
"These are unprecedented times. We have to get used to doing things in a different way for very obvious reasons, but we will pull through this because that's what we do as a country, and certainly as Milton Keynes. We've got a brilliant community spirit and we will get through this.
"The advice is very clear: don't go out unless you have to. We are trying very hard to avoid a lockdown on going outside and this is because we have taken a science-led approach to the advice that the government has been giving, and, at the moment, the scientific and medical advice is that the benefits to people's health, wellbeing and to their mental health of being able to pop outside responsibly outweigh the possible benefits of a total lockdown. That said, people need to use this power that they have to go outside responsibly and behave appropriately.
"Don't spread the virus; stay in if you can; only go out if you need to. Only go out for a few minutes to get a bit of fresh air. Don't go near other people."
