One in eight develop long covid

One in eight adults infected with SARS-CoV-2 develop long Covid, Dutch researchers report. Meanwhile, data released by the Office for National Statistics show that 34 per cent of long Covid cases followed infection by the omicron variant.

In the Dutch study, 4,231 people who had Covid-19, aged, on average, 52.4 years were matched with 8,462 controls. Long Covid’s core symptoms were chest pain, difficulties breathing, pain when breathing, painful muscles, loss of taste and smell, tingling hands and/or feet, lump in throat, feeling hot and cold, heavy arms and/or legs, and general tiredness.

About a fifth (21.4 per cent) of people who had Covid-19 experienced at least one new or worsening core symptom 90-150 days after a Covid-19 diagnosis compared with 8.7 per cent of controls during the same time – so Covid was responsible for the symptoms in 12.7 per cent of the public. Symptoms seemed to last longer in women than men. (Lancet 2022; 400:452-61)

Meanwhile, new figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal that 34 per cent of all existing long Covid patients developed their symptoms when the omicron variant was dominant.

“These latest ONS long Covid figures are a wake-up call,” says Dr Quinton Fivelman PhD, chief scientific officer at London Medical Laboratory. “The dangers of the virus, even in its purportedly less severe omicron form, remain significant.

“To put the numbers into focus, 29 per cent of long Covid sufferers reported they first had Covid before the first wave of Alpha became the main variant; 256,000 (13 per cent) during the alpha period; 386,000 (19 per cent) during the delta period and a significant 681,000 (34 per cent) during the omicron period. 

“The Government must ensure that all the top-up jabs administered are the latest versions ordered, which provide greater immunity to omicron variants. 

“Now we know the true scale of long Covid caused by omicron, we should not continue using older vaccines that do little to combat the spread of this variant, even if they do help reduce the severity of its initial symptoms.”