Long Covid: Leeds patient left bedbound by disease

Mike says his world has shrunk to his house and supermarket and medical visits

A Leeds man suffering with long Covid has said the disease can leave him bedbound for up to 20 hours a day.

Former IT architect Mike, 61, first caught the virus in October 2020 and then again in September 2022.

He told the BBC his ongoing symptoms included fatigue, brain fog, pain, breathlessness, light sensitivity and hearing loss.

Saturday marks four years since then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the first Covid lockdown.

Before Covid, Mike travelled widely for work, danced weekly and would go hill walking.

"My world has shrunk, literally, from the world to this house," he said.

"If a zoologist put one of those radio collars on me, what they would see is I go from here to the supermarket, to the GP, to hospital appointments and that's it, that's my life."

Most people recover quickly after a Covid infection and make a full recovery within 12 weeks.

For others the symptoms last longer and this is known as long Covid or Post Covid-19 Syndrome.

"I exist, I don't really have a life", Mike said.

"I haven't worked since October 2020. I've had three failed attempts to get back to work… but I just couldn't do the job."

Mike before he became ill

In March 2023 the Office for National Statistics estimated 1.9m people in the UK had long Covid - but this data is no longer published.

Prof Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds, said: "You can develop long Covid after any severity of Covid infection, so we are pretty much at the same level of risk as we were in terms of the number of cases that we're seeing.

"Our individual chance of developing long Covid has reduced because of vaccination but the sheer scale of Sars Covid-2 infection means that we're still seeing, we estimate, around one or two million people suffering with this condition."

Kelli Day was taken to hospital with Covid-19 in December 2020.

The 54-year-old spent 31 days at St James's Hospital, 11 of which were in intensive care.

"You see people around you dying, wondering if you're going to wake up the next day," she said.

Kelli Day says she is unable to look after her granddaughter by herself due to exhaustion

More than three years on Mrs Day said fatigue remained one of the worst symptoms.

"I'm still suffering", she said.

"People say 'you look well', but they don't know what's going on inside, I'm still seeing specialists and physios".

Latest data from the UK Health Security Agency estimates one in 143 people in England had Covid on 6 March 2024.

In January, NHS long Covid clinics in England received 1,549 referrals.