Climate activist Greta Thunberg has revealed she and her father have been self-isolating with suspected coronavirus after returning from a trip around Europe.

The 17-year-old,  whose father is Swedish actor Svante Thunberg, said they were travelling before any restrictions were imposed and self-isolated as soon as they fell ill.

“I came home from central Europe and then I isolated myself from the beginning, because I thought I might as well as I’ve been on trains and so I don’t want to put anyone else at risk. 

"But I started feeling some symptoms after a few days. At the same time, my father was feeling much more intense symptoms.”

She admitted that she did not feel particularly bad and despite neither of the pair being tested as it is only those at high-risk who are eligible in Sweden, she was almost positive she had the virus.

Ms Thunberg also urged people to follow social distancing as she has become increasingly aware that it is possible to be infected but be asymptomatic.

“The important thing is I didn’t basically feel that I was ill. It could be that I was feeling unusually tired, I was coughing a bit,” she said. 

“That also is very dangerous because you don’t know you have it. If I wouldn’t have been for my father getting it at the same time and much more intense than me, I might not even have noticed it, that I was sick.”

The Swedish teenager, who first made headlines with a school strike in August 2018 returned from her 83rd climate strike last week and has urged others not to forget the climate crisis in the midst of the health pandemic.

She asked activists to continue their work but via virtual protests to help prevent the spread and finished by saying: "One does not outrule the other."