A far-right conspiracy theorist who compared COVID-19 to food poisoning and urged her supporters not to get vaccinated says she feels like she got "hit by a bus" after contracting the virus.
Florida based Laura Loomer, who previously tried to run for election as a Republican, has been banned from Twitter and Uber over her extreme views.
Loomer revealed she caught COVID-19 to her 32,000 Telegram followers on Thursday.
"Yesterday, I was feeling ill. I had a fever, chills, a runny nose, sore throat, nausea and severe body aches that made my whole body feel like I got hit by a bus, and after sleeping for a few hours, my symptoms started to remind me how I felt when I had a bad case of the flu years ago," her initial post said.
But in a follow-up post, it appeared things had gotten worse with Loomer saying, "just pray for me please. Can't even begin to explain how brutal the body aches and nausea that come with COVID are. I am in so much pain".
Loomer has previously said she hopes she gets the virus so she can prove she's had worse experiences with food poisoning.
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"I hope I get COVID just so I can prove to people I've had bouts of food poisoning that are more serious and life threatening than a hyped up virus. Have you ever eaten bad fajitas? That will kill you faster than COVID," she posted on Parler in 2020.
Loomer, who is an anti-Muslim and anti-vaccine extremist, still has no plans to get the vaccine despite her diagnosis.
"I have not taken the COVID vaccine and I don't plan on ever taking it because it is unsafe and ineffective," she incorrectly claimed.
According to the World Health Organization 420,000 people die from food poisoning each year.
COVID-19 first emerged in December 2019 and since then the virus has killed more than 4.5 million people and infected 219 million worldwide.
Several vaccines are available for the virus. New Zealand is using the Pfizer vaccine in its rollout which is safe and effective even against more contagious strains like the Delta variant.
Vaccinated people are far less likely to become extremely unwell or die if they catch COVID-19.
