Susanna Reid has been a ‘rock’ to Kate Garraway since Derek’s Covid battle terrified GMB stars

LORRAINE Kelly has told how Kate Garraway's ITV colleagues were left terrified by her husband's coronavirus battle as they rallied around the star.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun, the presenter revealed Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid has been a "rock" to Kate throughout.

Derek Draper spent more than a year in hospital, becoming Britain's longest-surviving coronavirus patient, before returning home in April after waking from his coma.

While Kate endured a desperate wait for his recovery, she also had to juggle life as a single mum out to work at GMB and Smooth Radio.

Praising her, Lorraine told The Sun: ";Kate has been extraordinary.

"What she's going through is remarkable. I think for everyone who works at ITV, it's really brought it home to us when it happens to someone so close to you and it's so catastrophic.

"It does make us all more concerned that we have to get the vaccine, we have to obey the rules.

"Everyone knows that, it's only a small proportion - I don't know what they're thinking, they're deluding themselves.

"Because we are in it together, we're going to get out of it together."We have all got responsibility, we've got to get the vaccine for us and for the people we love."

Explaining how she and Kate's closes friends and colleagues have been supporting her, Lorraine added: "We see every week, we always check in to say how are things - text and call.

"She's got an amazing support system around her. She's got all her really close friends around her and then her colleagues who are at her back.

"Piers has been brilliant, Ben has been amazing. Susanna has been an absolute rock. I hope that has helped her."