IN THE FIRST year of the covid-19 pandemic the toll of the disease was measured by the number of people who died. Now, a second number is becoming prominent. This is the prevalence of “long covid”, the drawn-out form of the disease, which lasts for months or years. Long covid is poorly understood, often debilitating and is a looming burden on health-care systems even in countries where vaccination is slowing the rate of new infections.
Britain’s health service defines long covid as signs or symptoms that develop after a confirmed or suspected covid-19 infection, last for more than 12 weeks and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis. Some studies draw the line earlier, tallying symptoms that persist for four or five weeks. Britain’s Office for National Statistics has found that 21% of people testing positive for covid-19 continue to have at least one symptom five weeks after infection, and 14% still have symptoms at 12 weeks. Other studies have come up with estimates that are substantially higher or lower. The variation of results is probably caused by things such as how broad the questions about symptoms are and who is included in the studies .
How quickly, and even whether, people recover remains unclear. Several studies have found that the probability of having long covid drops off more rapidly in the first three months after infection and starts to plateau around six months after infection. In Britain, the ONS estimates that as of June 6th about 385,000 people had had self-reported long covid for more than a year.
Some are more debilitated than others by the illness. Two-thirds of Britons with long covid that drags on longer than four weeks say that their symptoms adversely affect their daily activities, including 18% who say their activities are “limited a lot”. In countries that have had big covid-19 epidemics, or will do so in the coming months because they are lagging on vaccination, long covid will be aThe subject of this explainer was suggested by our readers.
None of this is trickling down to doctors. They all just dismiss and gaslight. American healthcare is pitiful.
This Pendemic is a lesson to India especially for Healthcare sector
Life expectancies have been shortened and it's still not being taken seriously by the government compared to other countries.
The French Embassy, Consulates in Israel victim of infiltration and espionage !!! 2015/2021
this is terrible news
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Best friend has had it constantly for 16 months. 100,000 of NHS staff have had a year off sick and are fighting not to get sacked. Children were not officially recorded as having long covid until a couple of months ago. A member of sage says it's all in their heads.
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