Kate Garraway has opened up on her husband's tragic new complication in his battle with long Covid. Derek Draper was left in hospital in 2020 after contracting Coronavirus and has since required round the clock care reports the Mirror.

And while Derek has made some progress since he came out of his coma, he is still only able to say the occasional few words and is struggling with renal failure and infected wounds. According to reports, Derek is unable to breathe in oxygen nor breathe out carbon dioxide efficiently, meaning his body is "slightly poisoned all the time".

Kate has revealed her husband urgently requires rehab to help him breath properly again, and detailed a scary recent incident. The TV personality told the Sunday Times her husband had developed a 'weird choking' condition that is baffling doctors.

“It happened again just last weekend," she said. "For absolutely no reason he just went blue.”

Fortunately for Derek, Kate and their two kids two carers were on hand to get Derek breathing again, as she and son, Billy, watched on in horror. Eventually he "sort of vomited" as the relieved carers knew they'd just had a "really near miss".

Last month, Kate revealed she was thrilled her husbands signs were improving, adding that he can now speak in a whisper.

However, due to his condition, he will face a long road to recovery and Kate is becoming increasingly worried their children will have to act as "carers" more and more.

Derek's incontinence means he needs to be changed regularly, and any progress he was making on relearning how to walk was scrapped when he was rushed to hospital with sepsis.

As a result, Kate says her husband is "terribly, terribly depressed".

Both Kate and Derek contracted Covid early in the pandemic, but whilst Kate's case was mild, her husband was subsequently hospitalised and placed in an induced coma.

The virus ravaged Derek's body from top to bottom, causing brain inflammation, kidney failure, damage to his liver and pancreas and his heart to stop several time.

He lost eight stone and was left with holes in his lungs from repeat infections. It would be another six months before he was deemed well enough to return to their north London home, which Kate spent thousands adapting.

She installed a wheelchair ramp and converted the garage into a ground floor wet room. She also created a bedroom for Derek and his medical equipment and told how he would need 24-hour care.

Kate has written about her family's ordeal in a new book The Strength of Love: Embracing an Uncertain Future with Resilience and Optimism, which will be published on Thursday.

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