Fatigue, lung damage, heart damage and even strokes - these are just some of the long term symptoms which survivors of COVID-19 may have to deal with after their initial recovery.

While official guidance from the World Health Organization suggests primary symptoms may last as long as 30 days, for certain patients it's thought the secondary symptoms may last for months longer.

Paul Garner is an infectious disease expert at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. He contracted COVID-19 in March and is still feeling the impact on his health as he tells RAZOR's Emma Keeling.

"I actually passed out on the bed thinking, 'this was it.'" He said.

Garner explained how this feeling continued: "I've got a, you know, a cardiac infection of this virus and that I'm out of here. And that went on for a little while. And then I woke up two hours later. But it was extremely frightening."

The disease expert also had some wise words for people who are recovering from the virus, urging them not to overdo it and to return to normal daily life one step at a time. 

Check out The Pandemic Playbook, CGTN Europe's major investigation into the lessons learned from COVID-19