A man who has survived coronavirus is urging Hampshire residents to stay home after revealing he had no idea he caught the deadly disease. 

Writing to The Gazette, the 20-year-old said: “To all the people having people round, house parties, meeting up and socialising during this lockdown – don’t!

“After feeling absolutely fine two weeks ago but maybe feeling like I should get a test just in case, I tested positive.”

He continued: “[I had] not show one symptom throughout this whole year at all, not being unwell and not being concerned at all. [Yet] I was positive.”

And despite self-isolating for the ten-day period, Joe was surprised to find he tested positive again.

“I had to take the test again [after the isolation period], still feeling fine and still not one single symptom. Lo and behold, I still have coronavirus and have tested positive again,” he said.

He urged those breaking restrictions to “drive around and have parties” not to – because he said if he was able to have coronavirus without realising, other young people would have it too.

He wrote: “I am a prime example that the virus is so easy to catch and so easy to spread.

“As many people like myself, do not even feel anything or know they have it.”

Joe decided to book a test on the chance a fortnight ago when he found out he has the deadly infection.

“If I hadn’t tested just out of curiosity for the first time two weeks ago, I would still be walking around spreading it to people now.

“Stay inside and protect people around you. Because I mean it when I say I am lucky – I have not been ill at all.

“But not everyone will be as lucky as me if they catch this horrible virus. It’s not rocket science – stay indoors and the quicker people follow these simple rules, the quicker this **** will be over.”

His warning comes as a new study has shown lockdown compliance to the rules is now at the highest point since the first lockdown in May 2020.

But concerns have been raised about large numbers of people adding their own “modifications” to the rules – especially when it comes to meeting other people or self-isolation time.  

The Covid-19 Social Study, which collected responses from more than 70,000 participants, found that the number of people reporting "majority compliance" - that is, following most or almost all of the rules - rose to 96% for the week ending 10 January, which was the highest figure since April.

The rule people said they broke most often was meeting up with more than the recommended number of people outdoors - something 16% of people said they never, rarely or only occasionally followed.

The research also highlighted “deeply concerning” issues around people not isolating for the recommended number of days and over the number of people not requesting a Covid-19 test when they have symptoms.

Lead author Dr Daisy Fancourt, UCL Epidemiology & Health Care, said: “The levels of compliance we are seeing are high and improving week on week.

“This suggests that the increasing cases we are seeing now cannot be blamed solely on individual behaviours and instead raises the question as to whether the current rules are going far enough to stop the spread of the new variant.”

On the issue of isolating, Dr Fancourt said: “The number of respondents who say they are not isolating for the recommended number of days is also deeply concerning.

“The increased adherence to self-isolation rules among those with a higher household income suggests that many of those not isolating are breaking guidelines due to financial concerns, and more support needs to be put in place to allow people to self-isolate without fear of losing out financially.”