A COVID-19-stricken nurse from Basildon has told of the special moment she saw and held her daughter almost three months after her birth.

Pregnant Eva Gicain, 30, who works at a London hospital, was rushed to the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge in October when she became seriously ill with Covid-19 after baby Elleana was delivered about a month early by C-section, but Mrs Gicain has no memory of her birth.

"When I held Elleana for the first time I didn't want to let go," she said. "It was a special moment."

Mrs Gicain was taken to Basildon & Thurrock Hospital with a severe case of Covid-19 at the end of October when she was 34 weeks pregnant, and gave birth a week later. Days later she was transferred 50 miles away to Royal Papworth Hospital's critical care unit and became one of the youngest patients ever to be put on to its "artificial lung" for acute respiratory failure.

The extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine acted as Mrs Gicain's lungs so they could recover while she was treated for Covid-19.

Eva saidL: "The first thing I remember is just a few days before Christmas and being told where I was, what I had been through and that Elleana was doing well."

Her husband Limuel Lina, 30, who also had Covid-19, was unable to visit her and had to wait three weeks to see Elleana, who was in a special care baby unit.

"It was so horrible the three of us being in separate places at a time when we should all have been together," Mr Lina said.

The couple and their daughter celebrated a belated Christmas last week at their home in Basildon.

"Life is unpredictable and we are now just looking forward to being a little family and spending time together," added Mrs Gicain.