Urgent warning to anyone who’s had Covid over ‘increased risk of dying for 18 months after infection’

ANYONE who's had Covid is at risk of dying 18 months after infection, research suggests.

Most people have already been infected with the illness, with some also having had the bug more than once.

The majority of Brits also have protection against the virus following a mammoth vaccine rollout, as well as prior infections.

Now, scientists from China have discovered all those who contract the virus have an increased risk of deadly heart issues including heart failure, stroke, atrial fibrillation and myocardial infarction.

People who pick up the bug are four times more likely to develop heart disease within the first three weeks of infection.

And for up to 18 months after catching Covid, infected people's risk of developing the silent killer remains 40 per cent higher than those who never had the bug.

Previous have found the bug increases risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE), which is a condition when a blood clot forms in a vein.

Other studies have show that people who've had Covid are also at risk of myocarditis in the year after discharge.

Commenting on the study results, lead researcher, Prof Ian C.K. Wong of Hong, said: "Patients with Covid-19 should be monitored for at least a year after recovering from the accuate illness to diagnose cardiovascular complications of the infection, which form part of long Covid."

More than two million people in the UK say they have symptoms of long Covid, .

And some sufferers are reporting , such as changes in heart rate and palpitations.

According to the study published in , those with Covid are also 81 times more likely to die within the first month of catching the disease, compared to those who haven't had the bug.

Infected people's risk of death remains high - five times higher than a non-infected people - for 18 months.

Prof Ian added: "Covid patients were more likely to develop numerous cardiovascular conditions compared to uninfected participants, which may have contributed to their higher risks of death."

Researchers looked at data on 7,500 people who had caught Covid between March 2020 to November 2020 in the UK - before the nation was vaccinated and while lockdowns made care harder to access.

They compared the health outcomes of the infected patients against 75,000 people who never tested positive for the bug. "Previous research has indicated that Covid-19 vaccination may prevent complications."

Prof Ian called for further studies to "investigate [the vaccine's] effectiveness in reducing the risks of cardiovascular disease and death after Covid-19 infection."

This comes as a new variant has began to spread across the UK, accounting for nearly a quarter of cases of the virus in England, data from the Sanger Institute states.