A MAN feared he would die after contracting coronavirus and ending up in intensive care at the Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Despite his terrifying ordeal, Faiz Ilyas, 24, who lives in Clayton, is now on the road to recovery and has spoken of his experience.

Mr Ilyas, who studies civil and structural engineering at Bradford University and who works part time as a taxi driver, returned home on the evening of March 15 with an extremely high temperature.

As others in his household were also feeling unwell, they all went into isolation, with his grandma moving to his auntie’s house to keep her safe.

But the following Thursday, the situation began to worsen for Mr Ilyas and his father and an ambulance was called.

Paramedics decided his father should go to hospital. He stayed there for three days, but was sent home to manage his symptoms after his test came back negative for Covid-19.

During that time, Mr Ilyas was getting worse - it was difficult for him to breathe, his temperature was high and he was hallucinating.

After around 12 to 14 hours, his family managed to get an ambulance for him and he was taken to A&E before being put on the ward for Covid patients, where a decision was then made to put him into the intensive care unit (ICU), where he was covered in tubes, wires and an oxygen mask.

“It was quite possibly the most scared I’ve been in my life,” he said.

“No one was allowed to go with me, on my own with a virus that is killing people and has no known cure.

“Wires coming out of all sorts of holes in my body and being attached all to monitor me, while having to wear bane-style masks to ensure I kept breathing.”

He said he was kept going by the care and love of his family even though he was alone and added: “I was also inspired by the efforts of all the nurses who would have to get into their massive kit just to take care of me.”

Mr Ilyas said of his care: “The nurses and the doctors and everyone in there were fantastic. Everything I needed help with, they would help me and take care of me.

“They were absolute legends. They were so nice.”

He spent five days in ICU before he was transferred back to Ward 31.

His cousin and grandma were also struck down, but are also recuperating after hospital stays.

Mr Ilyas said there were “definitely moments I thought I was going to die”.

Now he’s back home with his family, but is urging people to take coronavirus seriously, particularly as more and more cases emerge of people battling the illness.

He shared his story on Facebook and it received a lot of attention as people sent their messages of goodwill.

“I think when people saw my story, it was a big wake up call for a lot of people.

“They started to take their own lives more seriously. I feel extremely lucky because I got it a time when it’s not been as busy in our area.

“I feel so grateful.”

He added: “This is a very serious pandemic.

“I would like to urge people to really follow the Government and NHS advice - stay at home and stay safe.

“It’s so important that people understand that.”

Ahead of the weekend, ministers pleaded with the public to obey social distancing rules despite the warm weather.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged the “small minority” of people who are breaking social distancing rules to change their behaviour.

“The more people follow the rules then the faster we will all be through this,” he said.