Linda Lusardi has thanked the NHS staff who helped her recover from coronavirus after she was treated for the illness in intensive care.

The Dancing On Ice star, 61, said that the healthcare workers were “unbelievable” and she “can’t thank them enough”.

She told Good Morning Britain: “They were very scared to begin with, this was a while back.

“They have got more PPE now and they have got more stuff.

TRIC Awards – London
Linda Lusardi urged people to follow social distancing guidelines (Ian West/PA)

“In the beginning, they were coming in with just plastic on and little things around their faces and running in and doing stuff and running out of my room.

“They weren’t prepared, they hadn’t got the gear they needed.”

Addressing NHS workers, she added: “I know how scared you are but without you, you are the front line, without you, more people would be dying.

“I thank you for giving me my life back, I really do.”

She also recounted her experience of being taken to hospital alongside her husband Sam Kane after an ambulance was called to their house.

“I had got practically zero oxygen in my blood, they said I had to come in.

“Then they tested Sam and said his was really bad as well.

“So my poor 20-year-old son watched us both be marched out of the door, with two paramedics with the full gear, all-in-ones and masks and into the ambulance.”

Lusardi also urged people ignoring social distancing guidelines to start following them.

“My message to them is you are out and you are socialising with people, you might get the germs mildly yourself but you are going to give it to your mum, your sister, your grandmother,” she said.

“Do you really want them to go through that?

“This will all be over quickly if we just follow the rules.”

Other celebrities including JK Rowling, Pink, Idris Elba and Tom Hanks have also revealed that they have either displayed symptoms or tested positive for Covid-19.