COMEDIAN Lee Mack is in isolation with his family after developing coronavirus symptoms following a visit to the Cheltenham Festival.
The 51-year-old went to the packed racing festival earlier this month and is now self-isolating over fears he may have the deadly bug.
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It was today been reported Lee – whose real name is Lee Gordon McKillop – had contracted the virus.
But a spokesman for the comic said he hadn’t been tested, although he had been feeling unwell for ten days.
The representative said: “Lee has not been tested for this virus, but has been feeling unwell for ten days now and he and his family have been completely self-isolating.
“He said the worse symptom so far is the avalanche of jokes about him Not Going Out.
“He laughed on day one but now it’s day ten it’s becoming a struggle.”
A friend of the funnyman claimed Lee caught the virus “from his driver when he went to the Cheltenham Festival.”
The comic – who stars in Not Going Out – was at the races on March 13 for Ladies Day and later on St Patrick’s Day.
It comes after rumours spread throughout the racecourse that the final day of the event could be cancelled.
But race chiefs stood firm despite a Cheltenham Tesco worker testing positive for the virus.
Race course boss Ian Renton, told 5 Live Sport: “We have heard from the government that racing does continue in this country and that the festival will continue to its ultimatum.
“We have put the measures in place – as we said we would here – and we’ve been pleased to see the crowds enjoying some fantastic racing.”
The festival was held between March 16 and 21 as coronavirus began to spread through the UK
More than 8,000 cases of the bug have been reported so far, with Prince Charles today revealed to have tested positive.
The future king had been displaying mild symptoms but remains in “good health” after being diagnosed with the bug on Monday night.
And fears have today surfaced that London could be one of the worst hit regions as the death toll doubled every two days.
Eighty-seven more deaths were recorded yesterday in just 24 hours across the UK, with 21 of the fatalities at one London hospital alone.
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There are now fears that half of the UK population may have already contracted the virus.
University of Oxford research suggested the disease could have become prevalent in the country two months before the first case was diagnosed.
Sunetra Gupta, professor of theoretical epidemiology at Oxford, led the study and says the UK must now increase testing to discover the true stage of the pandemic.
“We need immediately to begin large-scale serological surveys – antibody testing – to assess what stage of the epidemic we are in now,” he told the Financial Times.
The global death toll from the deadly bug has already hit more than 18,000 across the globe.
