A graphic designer from Worcester has launched a clothing brand inspired by Covid and the loss of a parent.

In March 2020, Michelle Betteridge and her father, David Cook, became two of the first people in the country to catch Covid.

David, who lived near Worcester his entire life, died as a result of the virus on April 6, 2020.

This, and her subsequent experience of the pandemic, inspired Michelle to develop her own clothing brand, Isolation Generation.

She said: “I was too ill and couldn't even get out of bed, so I said my final goodbye to him over the phone as my sister held it to his ear. I still remember every word.

“I created a clothing brand inspired by my Covid-19 experience. The overwhelming loss followed by the hard acceptance that he would not have the send-off he deserved, the kindness and understanding shown by our friends and the wider community never failed to lift our spirits on those darkest of days.”

Michelle’s brand aims to highlight all the good that came from the pandemic.

However, as reports emerged of Conservative MPs and the Prime Minister attending parties during lockdown, Michelle is now hoping the brand can serve as a reminder to the government that herself, and many like her, continued to follow the rules.

She said: “To hear that those deciding and rolling out the restrictions flouted these themselves, not once but several times, with each revelation more damning than the last, sickens me.

“Especially when at that exact I time was unable to arrange a funeral for my father or console my sister, nieces and nephew with a hug following our loss.”

She added: “We sacrificed time with family and friends. We cancelled weddings, anniversaries and birthday parties. We home-schooled. We stayed away from A&E to protect the NHS. We missed dental appointments. We attended pregnancy scans without our partners. We shopped alone, wearing a mask during a heatwave, and we asked neighbours if they needed anything.

“We did all this and that's why we are the isolation generation.”