George Alagiah opened up about his COVID-19 diagnosis on Good Morning Britain today (June 26).
The BBC newsreader is currently battling bowel cancer which he confirmed has now spread to his lungs.
Speaking to hosts Ben Shephard and Susanna Reid, he explained how cancer helped him face coronavirus.
George Alagiah reveals COVID-19 news
He said: “I can only speak for myself but I suspect most people living with cancer, we live with uncertainty all the time.
“We go from scan to scan that’s usually every three months and you never know what that scan is going to turn up.
Read more: BBC newsreader George Alagiah reveals bowel cancer has spread
“So we’re better at getting ready for that kind of thing.
“In a sense, I got the COVID business into a kind of perspective I think.
“Mentally, it didn’t worry me as much as you might imagine.”
George and his wife both tested positive for COVID-19 but have since recovered.
George Alagiah’s wife was ‘very ill’ with COVID-19
Opening up about how the virus impacts them, the BBC star revealed his wife’s symptoms were more severe than his.
“The weird thing about this disease is there’s no rhyme or reason,” he added.
“I had it quite mildly, I’m not sure where I got it from, but my wife who had symptoms about two or three or four days after me, she got it quite badly.
“She didn’t have to go into hospital but she really had the aches, she lost her sense of taste and smell, the works really. She felt very ill for a good two weeks.
“Whereas mine, I had a fever for about three or four days and then it was into recovery.”
BBC star releases debut novel
Despite his health battles, George pushed himself to write his first ever novel.
And his debut piece of fiction, The Burning Land, has already been nominated for awards.
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Teasing what the book is about, George said: “It’s got a truth about what’s happening all over the world – the kind of corruption that’s going on.
“As more and more people need more land to grow food on, there is going to be a competition for that land and rich people are going to get it.”
Good Morning Britain is on ITV, weekdays at 6am.
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