The exercise programme takes people from gentle stretching and builds up until they are doing the sports activities they were able to complete before falling ill.

Scientists at the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University tested the scheme on 31 people who had been suffering from symptoms of Long COVID – which includes brain fog, fatigue and breathlessness.

Before the programme, the patients reported three ‘crashes’ a week when they were left exhausted, but this was reduced to an average of just one after regular exercise.

Dr Manoj Sivan, who supervised the project for the University of Leeds, said: "Long COVID affects around two million people in the UK and it has an impact on their quality of life and in some cases, their ability to work. It is distressing and disabling.

"Post-exertional malaise or post-exertional symptom exacerbation or simply ‘crashes’, as described by patients, is a defining and important symptom of Long COVID.

"When patients get a crash, they experience feelings of complete exhaustion and wipe out and are unable to resume activities for hours or sometimes days.

"The findings of this research are exciting because this is the first time that crashing episodes have been used as a marker for the condition and a structured pacing programme has now been shown to substantially reduce symptoms and improve quality of life."

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