A doctor in the US has released a dramatic virtual reality video (below) demonstrating the diffuse damage caused by COVID-19 to a patient’s lungs.

The man, in his late 50s, was transferred to George Washington University Hospital, in Washington DC, on 18 March.

With a history significant only for hypertension, the patient presented already intubated and on a mechanical ventilator after his initial symptoms of fever, cough and dyspnoea rapidly progressed, and he required further support.

“That was when the outside hospital reached out to our expert team here at GW, and the patient was transferred to us for something called ECMO, which stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation,” explained Dr Keith Mortman, chief of thoracic surgery at George Washington University Hospital, in an interview for the hospital’s podcast.