Medical experts find blood clots in lungs of COVID-19 intensive care patients

“Alarming” symptoms inside COVID-19 intensive care patients are revealing exactly why the disease is much worse than the common flu.

Blood clots in the lungs, hearts and brains of COVID-19 patients in intensive care are emerging as “alarming” new life-threatening complications, according to medical experts.

Alfred Hospital haematologist Dr James McFadyen said blood clots in the lungs were one of the most common symptoms in coronavirus patients forced into ICU.

He said the “alarming complications” were becoming more evident to medical specialists as they learnt more about the wildly infectious disease.

“Researchers have now found that in people who are severely unwell with COVID-19, the virus can affect clotting of the blood, causing it to clog the blood vessels in the lungs and stop oxygen from getting into the body,” Dr McFadyen said.

Premier Daniel Andrews is urging Victorians to wear face masks in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19. Picture: Wayne Taylor/NCA NewsWire

He also warned blood clots caused by COVID-19 could also block blood flow to the heart and brain, leading to heart attacks and stroke.

“This is a new virus, in addition to the serious and potentially life-threatening consequences of acute COVID-19, we don’t know if people who recover will be left with longer-term health effects,” Dr McFadyen said.

“It’s a numbers game and the more cases we see, the more we will see of the serious complications caused by COVID-19.

“It is now very clear, COVID-19 is much more than just the flu. COVID-19 can be life-threatening and can also have serious long-term implications for your health.”

The State Government has instructed the mandatory use of face masks from 11.59pm on Wednesday in a bid to flatten the curve.

Victoria recorded 374 new infections overnight, swamping yesterday’s total of 275.

Three more Victorians died. They were aged in their 80s, 90s and 100s.

Victoria’s chief medical officer Professor Brett Sutton said he expected the numbers to level.

“I know the day-to-day changes can be substantial, but the modelling of a couple of weeks ago, if we had been on an exponential curve which is what happens with coronavirus, we would have been in the thousands of cases at this point in time and we’re not, we’re at 374,” he said.

“I’m not satisfied with that, but it’s certainly much better than 3000.”

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