British man, 59, who had Covid for 411 days cured: Reports

Even though the patient had no symptoms, he continued to test positive for Covid until January 2022.

A British man who had Covid for 411 days, said to be longer than anybody else in the world, has been cured, local media reports said. The patient first tested positive in December 2020, Sky News reported. The patient already had a weakened immune system after a kidney transplant when he had tested positive.

Even though the patient had no symptoms, he continued to test positive for Covid until January 2022, the report further said.

Doctors at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals in London where he was being treated told Sky News that they're not aware of any other documented case of a person being cured after such a long time.

Using genetic analysis, the doctors determined that the 59-year-old man still had an early variant of the original Wuhan strain, the report claimed.

London medical experts were able to cure the man with a mix of neutralising antibodies known to be effective against early coronavirus variants, Independent reported. The experts said that such treatments would probably no longer work.

In cases of persistent infection, a patient can display symptoms for months or longer but does not test positive. This is different from long Covid. In UK, government statistics show that an estimated 2.1 million people – 3.3 per cent of the population – are suffering from long Covid, Independent reported.