“We now know that COVID-19 is a problem associated with not just ventilation, but can affect the heart.”

Experts at the NHS Golden Jubilee University National Hospital in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, said that the findings could play a vital role in not only saving the lives of Covid-19 patients, but for the care of potentially fatal heart and lung issues generally, as well as helping prepare for any possible future pandemic.

The Covid-RV study was carried out in a significantly accelerated timeframe.

Traditionally, such studies would take at least a year just to plan, however, due to the pandemic and the importance of the findings, the research was successfully completed in six months and three weeks, from September 2020 to March 2021.