AMID the most unprecedented and extraordinary period of modern times, news has never been so important.

One person who knows this too well is ITV News Meridian reporter and former Reading Chronicle reporter Sangeeta Bhabra, who has played a part in documenting Reading's experience of lockdown while facing her own "personal pandemic" as she cares for her disabled brother at a time when social distancing has left carers in unchartered territory.

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Sangeeta has penned the town's - and her own - journey with Covid-19 in an essay written for a special book documenting this bizarre period of time, Reporting Coronavirus.

The book explores the crisis from the reflections of ITV news journalists at the heart of the ever-changing information coming out every day.

Speaking to The Chronicle, she said: "The idea was based on how this has been the most extraordinary period of time, and the fact that now is the best time to start to chronicle it, while it's fresh in our minds and we are going through it.

"It's such a surreal time in all our lives."

While her co-presenter, Fred Dinenage, reluctantly stayed at home when over 70s were told to self-isolate, Sangeeta admits that being at work was a relief from her caring responsibilities at home, where her brother has severe autism and cerebral palsy.

She writes about the extra pressures that coronavirus created for families like hers, as well as describing a moment when her personal and professional worlds collided on air when she had to report the death of a brilliant doctor, Doctor Peter Tun at Reading's Royal Berkshire Hospital, who had cared for her father after his devastating stroke.

Speaking about this moment, Sangeeta said: "I was just so shocked, and when you live and work so much within an area the way that we do, reporting something like this just seems surreal.

"I remember him asking fondly about Fred when I saw him at an event at my former school in Maiden Erlegh when I was a guest speaker a few years ago.

"It seemed he was fine one moment, then he was gone.

"It just shows how quickly this virus can take hold.

"The first thing I did before announcing it on the news was call my dad to tell him."

Speaking about the job of reporting during such a difficult time for the world, Sangeeta said: "We always know how important what we do is within the community, but I never realised quite how much we were a source of comfort to viewers.

"I received so many messages of gratitude for providing a tiny bit of normality amid the chaos.

"Fred didn't get the choice to continue working, so that was why we chose to do 'the Daily Dinenage' with Fred through Skype, a good news section which people loved.

"This was also during the time where people couldn't see anyone outside of their home, so I think the way we did the celebration sections for peoples' birthdays or wedding anniversaries was appreciated and was needed by so many at that time.

"It was different but still the same dynamic, which people wanted."

Speaking about her brother and being a carer at a time of such uncertainty, Sangeeta said: "It's hard because I can't explain things to him.

"There's no respite from it for carers - it's unchartered territory for organisations which would usually be there to help but can't because of social distancing and risks involved with vulnerable people.

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"At this point, other people are at the stage where they can decide what to do within the guidelines and make any decisions on risk for themselves, but you can't make those decisions for vulnerable people, everything is too much of a risk.

"Nobody is sure where to go from here in terms of caring for disabled or vulnerable, but as a patron of Thatcham charity Swings and Smiles, I have been able to meet with and discuss with other families who are going through the same thing."

Reporting Coronavirus: Personal Reflections on a Global Crisis from ITV News Journalists is available now, and Sangeeta's essay My Personal Professional Pandemic can be found on page 85.