On the worst days, Antony Loveless, 54, and his partner, Claire Hooper, 53, are entirely bedbound. The couple have spent days, weeks, months just motionless.

They struggle to cook, burning toast and setting the microwave on fire. They put reminders on their phones but forget why. Recall for names, faces, even the start of a sentence as they’re trying to finish it, dissolve into thin air.

The couple, from Southend-on-Sea in Essex, tested positive for Covid-19 on January 4, 2021.

Over the subsequent 18 months their symptoms have not abated, although they can come and go — a phenomenon described by many in the long Covid community as the “corona-coaster”.

“Covid left both of us permanently disabled,” Antony says. “It got so bad last year that I tried to kill myself. I could not see that my life would improve.”

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