Former Dancing With The Stars contestant Grainne Gallanagh has been isolating at home after testing positive for Covid-19 on New Year’s Eve.

The Letterkenny General Hospital nurse had been spending Christmas with her family in Buncrana, Co Donegal, when she tested positive.

She said the diagnosis at Christmas as “disaster”, adding it was a “horrible time of year to be sick”.

“A close contact let us know they were positive and we knew Dad had been in contact, so we decided to restrict our movements,” the former Miss Universe Ireland winner said.

“And then we got Dad’s test results on Christmas Eve, so we started to isolate as a family from then on.

“I got my positive test result on New Year’s Eve, so it hasn’t been the best Christmas holidays we have had.

“Thankfully none of us are very ill. We have all been coughing and feeling tired and have flu-like symptoms.

“The fact that 2020 has been such a write-off, I thought 2021 was going to be my year but it hasn’t been the best start.

“Hopefully it will only get better from here,” she said.

Gráinne (25), who appeared on RTÉ’s DWTS last year, recently posted a photograph of her family on their ninth day in isolation.

She wrote: “Day nine in isolation and we still haven’t killed each other. So 2020 really just said not finished with you yet.

“Covid has a lot to answer for (We’re doing fine, symptoms are mild.) Cheers to a better 2021.”

Despite being unwell, Ms Gallanagh, her sister, mother and father, were in apparent good spirits.

The model posted a story on Instagram walking round her family’s land, saying she was “trying to get some steps in and fresh air.”

In mid-December Ms Gallanagh reunited with DWTS friends Brian Dowling and hurler Aidan Fogarty at the Westbury Hotel in Dublin.

Before that she said she had had four Covid-19 tests. The nurse explained how the four work-related tests were “unpleasant”.

She also admitted feeling quite nervous before going to work, as the hospital had been badly affected by Covid-19.

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