New figures suggest that nearly a third of people with long Covid in the UK are likely to be suffering with symptoms for two years or more.
Data from the Office for National Statistics highlights that some 645,000 of those with long Covid are estimated to have first tested positive for the virus at least 24 months ago. This equates to 30 per cent of everyone likely to have the symptom s from the start of December - up from 594,000, or 27 per cent, in November.
Overall, some 2.1 million people living in private households in the UK were estimated to have been suffering form long Covid last month - equating to one in 30 of the population. Meanwhile, some 1.9 million people, or one in 35, first had or suspected they had Covid at least 12 weeks previously.
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Similarly, 1.2 million, or around one in 55, first had the virus a year ago. Estiamtes are based on self-reports from a representative sample of people in the four weeks leading up to December 4. The overall number of the population with long Covid has mostly unchanged when compared to the previous survey for the period leading up to November 6.
However, the number of people likely to have symptoms lasting for at least two years has been gradually increasing for several months. A report published in December by the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee noted that it was "unclear" what impact long Covid could have on the growing number of people either not in work or looking for work.
It recommended that further study be carried out in order to understand the impact of long-term sickness on employment levels in the country. ikely to be suffering from long Covid, compared with 4.7% of 35 to 49-year-olds, 2.9% of 25 to 34-year-olds, 2.8% of people aged 70 and over and 2.1% of 17 to 24-year-olds.
People working in social care reported the highest prevalence of long Covid among employment groups (6.1%), followed by health care employees (5.1%) and civil servants and local government staff (also 5.1%).
Levels were lower among occupations such as food production and farming (2.6%), financial services (3.1%) and hospitality (3.2%).
Long Covid is likely to be adversely affecting the day-to-day activities of 1.6 million people – 76% of those with self-reported long Covid – with 389,000 saying their ability to undertake day-to-day activities has been “limited a lot”, the ONS found.
The four most common symptoms of long Covid
Fatigue is the most common symptom (experienced by 71% of those with long Covid), followed by:
- Difficulty concentrating (49%)
- Shortness of breath (47%)
- Muscle ache (46%).
However, there is no standard measure for long Covid. The ONS uses a definition based on symptoms that have persisted for more than four weeks after an initial suspected coronavirus infection - and otherwise where symptoms could not be explained by something else.
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