Ashton claims he had the coronavirus... and passed it onto his 63-year-old mother

Chris Ashton has claimed he had coronavirus - and worryingly fears he passed it onto his mum who is in her 60s. 

The England winger created headlines earlier in March for his sudden Gallagher Premiership move from Sale to Harlequins.

But he has now revealed he has been bed-ridden for most of the time since that switch and unwittingly infected his mother, who had been helping with Ashton’s kids, with the same illness.  

Speaking to the BBC Rugby Union Weekly podcast, Ashton said: “I’ve only done about two days work with Harlequins and then I went down sick. 

“I thought I was dying at one point - coronavirus hit me hard. I had fever, a sore throat, aches, loss of smell and taste.

“I had it for seven or eight days and now my mum's got it. She was here with the kids and now she has got it. She is 63, so not good,” he said, adding that he didn’t take a coronavirus test to confirm he had the illness. 

“No, not enough tests are there. I just went off symptoms and how bad I felt. I couldn’t get out of bed. I am never really ill. Normally you get flu for two days, three days maximum. This was not going anywhere for a while. I tried to train and stuff, but I just couldn’t do it.

“It was my birthday on Sunday and it was the second-worst birthday of my life as I was in hospital for one of them when I was about 10. It was an awful day.”

WATCH: Billy Vunipola chats to Jim Hamilton in the latest episode of The Lockdown, the new RugbyPass series