Lorraine Kelly has branded her ITV colleague Kate Garraway 'incredible' amid her husband's prolonged battle with COVID-19.
The Lorraine host, 61, told MailOnline that Kate's partner Derek's illness profoundly affected the entire morning team at ITV, given their close-knit relationship.
Derek, 53, spent 12 months in hospital after contracting the deadly disease in 2020 and is now being cared for at home, with Lorraine saying of this: 'It hit us all really hard when Kate's husband got COVID. He got it very badly of course.
'It hit us hard': Lorraine Kelly has branded her ITV colleague Kate Garraway 'incredible' amid her husband's prolonged battle with COVID-19
'And with that and having Dr Hillary [Jones] on out team, we were so on it at ITV. Everything was done so well in terms of safety and social distancing and hand-washing.'
Of Derek's ordeal, she added: 'He is back home. And it's a case of baby steps. But Katie is just incredible.'
Of what she misses most amid the pandemic - which saw Lorraine merge her morning show with Good Morning Britain for several weeks at the start of the first lockdown - Lorraine said: 'Travel is my joy and I miss it so much. You should see my fridge with all the magnets on it of places we've been.
'When we can I want to go to Antarctica, Greenland, the Far East...'
'Incredible': The Lorraine host, 61, told MailOnline that Kate's partner Derek's illness profoundly affected the entire morning team at ITV, given their close-knit relationship
Trauma: Derek, 53, spent 12 months in hospital after contracting the deadly disease in 2020 and is now being cared for at home, with Lorraine saying of this - 'It hit us all really hard when Kate's husband got COVID. He got it very badly of course'
Yet Lorraine has been embracing travelling close to home in the meantime.
'I went to Orkney - it was just joyful. I've had my two jabs so I was confident about it. Not just for myself, for everyone else around me.
'But because you take a ferry to Orkney it felt a bit like I was going overseas. An adventure. I loved it there. And the Outer Hebrides. It's like another world.
'I just can't wait to get out and explore abroad when it's safe. But in the meantime I'm just doing more day trips; exploring England, Wales, Northern Ireland. We have an amazing country. But I can't wait to get travelling again, everyone needs it, we really do.'
Last week, Kate revealed she was informed her husband Derek probably 'wouldn't recover' if he didn't make progress in the two years after he caught COVID-19.
According to the Good Morning Britain presenter, 54, she was told by her doctor that 'there is very little chance of him making a meaningful recovery', if he fails to make significant improvements in the allotted time period.
Tragic: Kate revealed she was informed that her husband Derek Draper probably 'won't recover' if he doesn't make progress in the first two years
Kate disclosed that Derek's neurologist, known as Dr W, also said 'time and waiting are your friends' because he 'had never seen anything like this before so can’t personally chart the recovery', reports The Daily Star.
However, when
