Covid: Hallucinations are 'exhausting' for blind people

There has been a "disturbing" rise in the number of blind people experiencing hallucinations during the coronavirus pandemic, the RNIB charity says.

The condition, known as Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS), is thought to affect about 30% of blind people and causes vivid - sometimes sinister - hallucinations.

It can be triggered by loneliness, reduced exercise, and exposure to chronic depressing news.

"If I'm sitting with groups of people, I can no longer see faces and my brain is trying to replace the face with somebody I know," said Kirsty James, 31, from Caerphilly.

"It's exhausting when you are trying to concentrate on what you are trying to say but your brain is putting things there."