Jo Whiley: Sister's 'huge thank you' in Covid fight

Jo Whiley's sister Frances lives in residential care

DJ Jo Whiley has said her sister Frances "would like to say a huge thank you" to everybody who has helped her after she contracted coronavirus.

The BBC Radio 2 presenter's sister, who has a learning disability and diabetes, was taken to hospital after an outbreak at her Northamptonshire care home.

Whiley said her family had gone from discussing palliative care last week to "drinking cups of tea" with her sister.

"It doesn't end here though," the broadcaster posted on Twitter.

She added: "Covid has brought with it further complications.

"We're now dealing with worrying diabetes and high blood pressure issues, and my parents are exhausted beyond belief.

"It's so hard observing from behind a visor and mask, helpless doesn't cover it."

Whiley also posted a video of Frances, 53, giving a thumbs-up and a round of applause.

She said her sister "would like to say a huge thank you to everybody who has helped her, especially the amazing doctors and nurses of the NHS, and her many MANY well-wishers."

The DJ said it was "hard to believe" that they had been discussing palliative care on Friday night but were now able to sit on her sister's "favourite bench drinking cups of tea".

She renewed her call for people with learning disabilities to be prioritised in the vaccine rollout.

"Not everyone has been as lucky as us," she said.

"So many have died or are suffering from long Covid because simply they were not protected.

"We need to show them that they are not forgotten, and we care."

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Whiley previously questioned why she was offered the vaccine before her sister, who has the rare genetic syndrome Cri du Chat.

People with diabetes and those with a "severe or profound" learning disability are in priority group six for the coronavirus vaccine, along with unpaid carers for those with disabilities and the elderly.

The Department of Health previously said the NHS was "working hard to vaccinate those most at risk, as quickly as possible".