Thousands seeking unproven long Covid blood treatments abroad

Experts have raised concerns over whether such invasive and expensive therapies should be offered without sufficient evidence, with increasingly desperate patients spending life-changing sums. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

Thousands of people with long Covid are travelling abroad to spend huge sums of money on unproven treatments such as “blood washing”, prompting warnings from experts and doctors.

Patients are attending private clinics in Cyprus, Germany and Switzerland for procedures such as a blood filtering treatment and anti-clotting therapy, according to an investigation by the British Medical Journal and ITV News.