A yet strange yet reliable incident has in light from Britain, where a 72-year-old man had tested positive for 43 times in the matter of 10 months.

This is plausibly the longest recorded case of continuous infection in a human body asserted researchers on Friday.

The man who had contracted Covid 43 times has been identified as Dave Smith, a retired driving instructor from Bristol in western England and was hospitalized seven times and had even made plans for his funeral.

In an interview to the BBC, “I'd resigned myself, I'd called the family in, made my peace with everybody, said goodbye.”

His wife, Linda, who quarantined with him at home, said: “There was a lot of times when we didn't think he was going to pull through. It's been a hell of a year.”

According to a consultant in infectious disease at the University of Bristol and North Bristol NHS Trust, Ed Moran said, Smith "had an active virus in his body" throughout.

"We were able to prove that by sending a sample of his virus to university partners who managed to grow it, proving that it was not just left-over products that were triggering a PCR test but actually active, viable virus."

It may be noted here that Smith had recovered from the infection after treatment with a cocktail of synthetic antibodies developed by the US biotech firm Regeneron.

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The treatment which Smith received is not clinically approved for use in Britain yet but in his case, it was allowed on the compassionate grounds.

According to the results of clinical trials published this month showed the treatment reduced deaths among severe Covid patients who are unable to mount a strong immune response.

"It's like you've been given your life back", Smith told the BBC.

When Smith finally tested negative for the contagious infection he and his wife celebrated by opening a bottle of champagne. His reports turned out to be negative after 45 days upon administering the Regeneron drug and about 305 days after his first infection.

As Smith’s treatment has not done under official medical trial but his case is now being studied by virologist Andrew Davidson at the University of Bristol.

Andrew will also present a paper on his case at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in July, saying that his is thought to be "the longest infection recorded in the literature".

"Where does the virus hideaway in the body? How can it stay just persistently infecting people? We don't know that," Davidson said.

Smith’s medical history suggests that he had lung disease and had recently recovered from leukemia post contracting the infection in March 2020.

Smith has also shared the post-Covid symptoms which includes breathlessness however, he is still full of life and has traveled in Britain to teach his granddaughter to drive.

"I've been down to the bottom and everything's brilliant now," he said.