AN AUTHOR who hails from the Tyne Valley has penned a new book detailing his battle against coronavirus.

Scott Dixon, who was brought up in Prudhoe but now lives in Edinburgh, was hospitalised by the virus in late March.

He developed flu-like symptoms days before the UK lockdown was announced, two weeks after the first cases were confirmed in the Scottish capital.

Scott didn’t know he had the virus until he called 999 as a last resort and was admitted to hospital.

At the time, he said: “The howls of pain on this coronavirus ward will never leave me.

“It is worse than you can ever imagine.”

Now, he has written a “shocking” account of his experience of the virus, entitled Pandemic - My Story.

More than two months since he was hospitalised, Scott was still feeling the effects of the virus.

He said: “I went down in the middle of March and was hospitalised at the end of the month.

“It was nothing like ordinary flu, I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.

“I can’t walk very far because my lungs are still not 100 per cent. But other than that, I feel fine.”

Scott said his book was shocking and contained some revelations he believed would shock readers.

They include sharing an isolation room with a patient with epilepsy before being tested and having no transport when he was discharged, being forced to take a taxi.

He continued: “It was quite a story what I saw and what I experienced.

“It was a story that I felt I had to share because what I saw was quite shocking.

“I’m not having a pop at the Scottish NHS, because I couldn’t even look after myself. It was in the early stages and nobody knew what they know now about the virus.

“It has been a harrowing experience that will never leave me and one that I feel compelled to share.”

The book, which is available on Amazon, covers Scott’s story from initial symptoms, to his hospitalisation and his recovery so far, which he thinks may yet take years to complete.