A WREXHAM councillor whose entire immediate family fell ill with the coronavirus has spoken out about the “absolutely devastating” impact it had on them.

Marc Jones, who represents part of Rhosddu, said his wife and two sons began experiencing symptoms including a cough, temperature and shortness of breath towards the end of March.

As his wife works as a nurse and his two boys in supermarkets, they were able to be tested and it was confirmed that they had contracted COVID-19.

To make matter worse, the Plaid Cymru politician caught it a week later, meaning the household became reliant on a network of volunteers he had previously set up to help others hit by the pandemic to get essentials.

The Leader:

Councillor Marc Jones

Cllr Jones has now opened up about his family’s battle with the potentially deadly virus, which nearly resulted in his wife being admitted to hospital.

Speaking in an interview with his colleague Cllr Carrie Harper, which was carried out on the Zoom video platform, he said:  “Until it happens to you, you don’t realise it’s not just the flu, it’s absolutely devastating.

“We were quite lucky, we had fairly mild symptoms, but it’s still knocked us for six.

“It’s ironic that we set up a network of volunteers locally and we ended up having to rely on that network of volunteers.

“I can’t thank people enough – friends, volunteers and neighbours who shopped for us, went for prescriptions and basically looked after us in a way I was expecting to be helping other people.

“It’s at times like that you really realise the importance of that network to help people along.”

There has been some debate during the last week over the different approaches taken by the UK and Welsh governments in easing lockdown restrictions.

However, Cllr Jones said he believed the Cardiff administration had taken the right steps by only easing the regulations slightly.

He has also urged people not to become complacent in protecting themselves against the virus.

He said: “We did have some scary moments, I thought my wife would need to be admitted at one stage but luckily not.

“I guess the message is don’t take it for granted that everything’s getting better.

“The figures I’ve seen from the Office for National Statistics show that actually in parts of North Wales the peak is yet to come, and we’ve got to be really careful.

“That’s why the decision to keep the lockdown, but ease it slightly is the right decision because there are people still dying locally and being admitted to the ICU (intensive care unit).”