Health worker diagnosed with long Covid did not even know he had virus

Sign up to our newsletter for the latest Northumberland news

A man has been diagnosed with long Covid - despite not even knowing he had had the virus eight months ago.

Dean Dobson first started feeling unwell in February, when the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK was still just in double figures.

The 29-year-old was sent home from work after becoming dizzy and struggling to breathe - and while a doctor mentioned that “people were panicking about coronavirus,” he was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection.

Dean, from Bedlington, Northumberland, continued to struggle with dizziness, breathlessness and exhaustion in the months that followed.

While going between GPs, ENT consultants and a private neurologist, he was told the problem could be vertigo, an ear infection or neurological problems.

Finally, in October Dean saw that as a health worker he was entitled to a Covid-19 antibody test.