Coronavirus causes blood clots and sudden strokes in young, healthy patients, doctors warn

Of those treated by his medics, Dr Oxley said one has died, one has gone home but will need intensive care while the others are in either rehabilitation units, the stroke unit or ICU.

Meanwhile, another team of doctors has reported seeing a spike in coronavirus patients with blood clotting problems.

Dr Kathryn Hibbert told CNN that she has seen blood clotting before her eyes as she tried to insert intravenous lines into a patient's artery.

The director of the medical intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital said: "You just watch it clot right in front of you.

"It's rare to have that happen once, and extremely rare to have that happen twice."

Life-threatening

When blood clots it can travel to the heart or lungs and cause a life-threatening pulmonary embolism - or to the brain and cause a stroke.

Dr Jeffrey Laurence, a haematologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, said: "The number of clotting problems I'm seeing in the ICU, all related to Covid-19, is unprecedented."

He added that problem appeared to be "widespread in severed Covid" cases.

A stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off – and without blood, the cells in your brain can be killed or suffer damage.

It can have different effects depending on where in the brain this damage occurs.

For some, the effects of a stroke can be relatively minor and will fade quickly, but others can be left with problems that leave them dependent on other people.

Around one in eight people who suffer a stroke die within 30 days, so it is vital to get medical assistance as soon as possible – the sooner somebody is treated, the more likely they are to survive.

The FAST method – which stands for Face, Arms, Speech, Time – is the easiest way to remember the most common symptoms of stroke:

If you recognise any of these signs, and believe somebody is having a stroke, dial 999 and ask for an ambulance immediately.