This IS a real disease

>> Patients tell how lives have been ruined >> 2m hit by range of debilitating symptoms

- MARTIN BAGOT

LONG Covid patients have told how the debilitating syndrome has shattered their lives as they struggle with the simplest tasks.

Figures show there are around two million people suffering a range of ailments from severe fatigue to brain fog.

Many have stopped work, as even standing up leaves them gasping for breath.

The Mirror joined medics on the frontline at the country's first specialist Long Covid clinic. The average age of those being referred is just 45.

But while the virus is deemed no longer a health emergency, these patients are left to suffer in silence as the world moves on from the pandemic.

Experts estimate that around 400,000 have significant disability and would benefit from this specialist care.

But we can reveal that, so far, only 100,000 have been offered treatment.

Long Covid expert Dr Melissa Heightman is head of the pioneering clinic at University College Hospital London.

She said: "This is a real disease. It is not some nebulous, imaginary phenomena due to a lack of moral fibre or anxiety.