Coronavirus: Linda Lusardi battling her way back from "death's door"
Linda Lusardi has tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) after the disease took her “to death’s door”.
The 61-year-old former Emmerdale star and her soap star husband Sam Kane have both been in hospital battling coronavirus after contracting symptoms.
Kane, 51, wrote on Facebook: “I can’t stress enough that this is not ‘just a flu bug’. I’ve watched this take my girl to death’s door. I’ve felt it take me there.”
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But on Monday night (March 23) the former Brookside actor revealed Lusardi had turned a corner.
He revealed: “Today has been an up and down day. Down in the respect that Linda has been tested positive for Covid 19 [sic]. But up because she’s beating this horrible little parasite. She’s getting a tiny bit stronger every day.
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”She’s a long way from well but I’m pretty sure she now has the upper hand. In the battle. God bless my girl. She’s strong and she’s brave. She’s a fighter. She’s doing so incredibly well and I’m burst out crying proud of her.”
Thanking the medical staff who had treated them both he said: “The staff and doctors at the NHS. Every day they are literally a sliver of the thinnest plastic between themselves and us - the patients and then the virus. Their bravery and their courage knows no bounds.”
Kane has now been discharged from hospital.
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Lusardi found fame as a glamour model before branching out into acting.
She competed in Dancing On Ice in 2008 and Celebrity MasterChef in 2011.
Lusardi and Kane married in 1998 and have two grown-up children, Jack and Lucy.
Other celebrities to have tested positive for coronavirus include Luther star Idris Elba, Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks and his actress wife Rita Wilson and former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko.