Coronavirus: London man recovers but identical twin still in coma

A brother has told of his grief after he recovered from coronavirus but his identical twin’s condition deteriorated.

Bobby Laviniere came out of a coma following the disease in March while Steve remains in a nursing home and is unconscious.

Their case echos Kate Garraway’s husband Derek Draper’s prolonged battle against Covid-19 – which he continues to fight in intensive care.

Earlier in the pandemic data from a symptom-tracking app that studied twins suggested genetics make some people more susceptible to infection than others.

Bobby told GMB: ‘You just don’t think any of this will happen to you or your loved one.

‘Talking to the consultants in the first hospital – East Surrey – they had seen minimal cases of what Steve had contracted and it was a bit of a mystery.

‘Then we heard what had happened to Derrick and thought it was the same as Steve. We are full of hope that things will improve.’

Bobby and Steve, who were brought up in London’s East End and are DJs, first noticed symptoms during a phone call after a gig in Madrid in March.

Bobby said he started losing his breathe and could tell his brother was also struggling on the other end of the line.

But his symptoms worsened at the end of the week when he got a high temperature and was bed-bound over the next four days.

He went into hospital and was put into a coma before recovering and discharging himself after six days.

Yet just when Bobby left ICU and was planning to see his twin brother Steve was admitted to hospital.

Doctors called Steve’s mother-in-law Selma to tell him they were trying to wake him up but ‘weren’t having much success’.

She said: ‘He wasn’t responding as they might have expected him to. So then they said could I come into the hospital. That’s the last thing you want to hear.’

Steve continues to battle coronavirus but his family said it is still not clear whether he will completely recover.

Bobby added: ‘It is baffling for us. I was in for six days so was a fairly quick recovery.

‘We’ve stopped asking the question why has this has happened, because the doctors can’t give that answer.’

Garraway revealed last week it had been a ‘tough old week’ for her husband Derek as he continues in his battle against the disease. 

She said she has received an overwhelming amount of support from fans, but admitted she has been unable to get back to people due to the difficult week.

Mr Draper was originally admitted to hospital with Covid-19 symptoms on March 30 and remains seriously ill.

Earlier in the pandemic data from a symptom-tracking app suggested genetics make some people more susceptible to infection than others.

The findings were based on information submitted to ‘Covid Symptom Tracker’, which was launched by researchers at King’s College London in March.

The researchers asked thousands of twins in the UK, who were already part of another research project, to use the app.

They then used this data to try and establish whether the symptoms experienced by those predicted to have Covid-19 were related to their genetic makeup.

The results revealed genetic factors explain about 50 per cent of the differences between people’s symptoms of Covid-19.

These symptoms include delirium, fever, fatigue, shortness of breath, diarrhoea and loss of taste and smell in individuals, they found. 

Other symptoms such as hoarse voice, cough, chest pain and abdominal pain were thought to be a result of the surrounding environment and not genetic make-up.