Key workers “abandoned” with debilitating Long Covid delivered a petition to Downing street yesterday.
Campaigners are demanding that key workers left disabled after catching the virus at work should be entitled to support.
It comes after the Mirror revealed many NHS workers have already been sacked and up to 10,000 are still struggling to return to work could face the sack.
The Tories started to withdraw Covid Sickness Pay this month, putting Long Covid sufferers on half pay for six months during which they face a series of employment reviews to decide whether they can keep their jobs.
The petition calling for Long Covid to be recognised as an occupational disease and compensation or pension support provided has gained 125,000 signatures.
Campaign leader Rachel Hext, who was a community nurse until she lost her job because of Long Covid, said: “Across Europe they are getting these compensation schemes opened.
“Once again the Government has made no provision for people with Long Covid.
“Front line workers are in a real mess, defaulting on their mortgages and going into debt.”Sarah Sutton, 44, a former midwife, said:
"Long Covid affects everything I do every day. I set an alarm so that I can wish my children a good day before school.
"I haven’t worked since March 2020. I can’t shop, clean or walk my dogs.
"I can’t hold my iPad up for long. I can’t carry things upstairs as I have to go on my hands and knees.
"It affects everything."
Hundreds of thousands of NHS workers caught Covid at the height of the pandemic and many were isolating from vulnerable relatives and even living apart from their family to protect them.
The petition states: “Long covid has left key workers, including supermarket workers, carers, nurses, doctors, teachers and many more, debilitated, with completely different lives.
“We need compensation for our service and we need it now.”
A report by MPs on the All Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus concluded that the UK is “out of step with other countries” in not recognising Long Covid as an industrial illness.
It found that more than 50 countries now provide formal legal recognition and compensation for key workers who contracted Covid-19 as a result of workplace exposure.
Layla Moran, chair of the APPG on Coronavirus, said: “The health and economic implications of further inaction from ministers will be disastrous for the NHS, the economy, and the millions living with this debilitating condition.
“It is crucial that the Government moves to follow the sensible course already established in other countries by urgently recognising
Long Covid as an occupational disease and increasing funding for research and treatment.”
The Office for National Statistics estimated there are 2.3 million people in the UK who have Long Covid.
A BBC Panorama investigation estimated that there are 10,000 NHS staff absent long term with Long Covid.
This number does not include other sectors, those who have retired, had contracts terminated or who have resigned.
