Coronavirus: Long covid

Background

Some people who are infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, experience symptoms after the acute stage of the illness has passed. Long covid is a term used to describe ongoing symptoms of Covid-19, or new symptoms that develop after a Covid-19 infection. People with long covid can experience a wide range of symptoms affecting different parts of the body. Research exploring the causes of the condition and potential treatment options is ongoing.

In March 2023, an estimated 1.9 million people in the UK reported that they were experiencing long covid, representing 2.9% of the population. Of these, 1.3 million had symptoms that had lasted for more than a year and 762,000 had symptoms lasting for more than two years. Fatigue was the most common symptom (reported by 72% of those with long covid), followed by difficulty concentrating (51%), muscle ache (49%) and shortness of breath (48%).

Some groups of people are more affected than others. In this survey, the prevalence of long covid was higher for those with pre-existing health conditions than those without them. Long covid prevalence increased with age and level of socioeconomic deprivation and was slightly higher for women than men.

Read more at

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9112/