Ryan Tubridy says he was ‘fortunate’ with his experience of having Covid-19

RTE broadcaster Ryan Tubridy has said he was very fortunate with his experience of having Covid-19.

The Late Late Show host returned to work on Tuesday after being diagnosed last Monday.

Tubridy, 46, who also has his own morning show on RTE Radio One, had used recent Late Late Shows as a vehicle to convey public health information about the epidemic.

Speaking on the return to his show on Tuesday, he said: “I should fill you in on that good fortune just briefly, and it’s not to gloat or anything like that.

“It wasn’t a particularly lovely thing to experience but I was very fortunate in the sense that I had this persistent cough.”

He said he did not experience fever or have any other symptoms and took the time off to rest and reflect.

“I’m very grateful and quite humbled by what happened, actually.

“When you’re told that your test has come back positive you think about a lot of things and you reflect.”

“I’ve thought about a lot of things, I thought about life, you reflect and you have time and you think about people who you love and loved and you think about how grateful you are for the great things that happen in life.”

“The numbers of people that have died in the last couple of weeks are quite shocking and going through that is not easy at all, and not being able to go to a funeral is not easy at all, and losing your job, and being one of maybe 700,000 people who didn’t want to be taking a payment from the government but have to is not an easy thing to do.”

He said he is in admiration of the “commitment and patriotism” among Irish people during the emergency.

“I support the key is to overcome all of those difficulties which we will do together and it just requires a lot of kindness and a lot of patience and a lot of optimism.”