Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus that’s at the centre of the global pandemic, is primarily a respiratory or lung disease. Yet, the heart can also suffer, agree doctors. And that is why it is imperative for those with pre-existing heart ailments not to stop regular medication without the advice of a doctor. Early reports coming out of China and Italy, two areas where Covid-19 took hold earlier in the pandemic, show that up to 1 in 5 patients with the illness end up with heart damage, notes an article in Johns Hopkins Medicine. Heart failure has been the cause of death in Covid-19 patients, even those without severe breathing problems such as acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS.