A Brit battled coronavirus for 18 months in what is thought to be the virus’s longest infection on record.

The patient, whose personal details have not been divulged, died 505 days after being diagnosed in 2020.

By the end, their immune system was severely weak.

The patient had fallen victim to 10 mutations of coronavirus – including variants Alpha, Gamma and Omicron.

Scientists from King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation researched the case as part of their investigations into persistent Covid-19.

They say it is ‘imperative’ to find new treatments for sufferers with poor immune systems.

Nine other patients who had the virus for a prolonged amount of time have been analysed as part of the research.

Four of those patients died after catching Covid19.

Two needed special treatment and antivirals before they were finally tested negative, and two recovered without any additional treatment at all.

But a ninth patient is still battling covid – and has been for 412 days.

The patient could soon ‘eclipse’ the previous 505-day record for the longest coronavirus case.

During their research, scientists also spotted a worrying case of an ‘occult’ infection – where someone had tested negative, but was later still found to in fact have coronavirus.

The academics have used their findings to stress the importance of vaccinations for people with weaker immune systems.

Those with less internal defences can harbour coronavirus for longer – meaning the virus has time to mutate inside their body.

It is feared it is this exact situation which caused the sudden spread of the Omicron variant last year.

Dr Luke Blagdon Snell, a clinical research fellow at Guy’s, told the Guardian: ‘These individuals seem to have a very poor outcome when they have persistent infection.

‘There’s an imperative to develop better treatments to clear infections for the patient’s own benefit. It may also have the added benefit of preventing the emergence of variants, but that is not yet clear.’

The researchers presented their findings to the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Portugal.

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