Coronavirus: 1.1m in UK people thought to have Long Covid
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More than a million people across the UK have reported experiencing symptoms of Long Covid, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.
Latest data from the ONS showed a total of 1.1m people in Britain reported experiencing Long Covid symptoms lasting beyond four weeks after Covid-19 infection that were not explained by another illness.
The figures, reported over a four-week period up to 6 March, showed that 674,000 people reported having symptoms that affected their daily life. A further 196,000 reported experiencing symptoms that significantly limited their ability to undertake everyday tasks.
The all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on coronavirus urged the government to establish a compensation scheme for key workers living with Long Covid who have been unable to return to work.
Layla Moran, Liberal Democrats leader and chair of the APPG, accused ministers of enabling a “postcode lottery of rehabilitation services”, as she called for Long Covid to be recognised as an occupational disease.
The government last month pledged to invest £18.5m into research projects looking at the long-term effects of coronavirus.
The funding will support four studies seeking to identify the causes of Long Covid and potential treatments for people with chronic side-effects.
Around 1 in 10 people who have been infected with coronavirus continue to experience symptoms beyond 12 weeks, according to the British Medical Journal.
According to the Department of Health and Social Care, “Long Covid can present with clusters of symptoms that are often overlapping and/or fluctuating.”
A preliminary review of the disease has so far highlighted 55 different long-term effects.
Common symptoms of Long Covid include breathlessness, headaches, cough, fatigue and cognitive impairment or “brain fog”, with some emerging evidence that some people experience organ damage.