Queen guitarist Brian May has urged his fans to take extra care in the week leading up to Christmas after revealing that he now has Covid-19 after attending a friend’s birthday party.

The musician, 74, detailed his plight in a video shared to Instagram after explaining how he and his wife, Anita Dobson, 72, had been “incredibly careful” during the pandemic.

However, they decided to go out to a birthday lunch for a friend earlier this month where all guests had been asked to provide negative Covid-19 tests first.

“It seemed like you were in a safe situation. You have your negative tests... What could possibly go wrong? We thought were in a safe bubble so we didn’t wear masks,” he recalled.

By Monday though he had begun to feel symptoms and feared the worst.

“We’re testing the whole time and we’re testing negative. And Tuesday, I hear that I think eight people from the party had already tested positive and had Covid in their systems,” he said.

After feeling like he had suffered, “the worst flu you can imagine” he eventually tested positive late last week.

“Yep. The shocking day finally came for me. The dreaded double red line,” he wrote alongside a photo of his positive lateral flow test.

“And yes - definitely NO sympathy please - it has been a truly horrible few days, but I’m OK. And I will tell the tale.

“PLEASE take extra care out there, good folks. This thing is incredibly transmissible. You really do NOT want it messing up YOUR Christmas.”