Coronavirus can damage the heart, with more than half of hospitalised patients revealing abnormal scans, a major new study has found. A survey of 69 countries, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), found that 55 per cent of 1,261 patients studied had abnormal changes to the way their heart was pumping, with around one in seven showing evidence of severe dysfunction. The majority (901 patients) had never been diagnosed with heart problems before, leading scientists to conclude that Covid-19 itself may seriously affect the heart. Among this group, heart scans were abnormal in 46 per cent of patients and 13 per cent had severe disease. Just over half of all the scans were performed in intensive care, with others carried out on general wards, heart and lung wards and in A&E.; The results follow a number of studies indicating that the virus can cause long-term damage to the brain. Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation and a consultant
