A 2024 study by the Office for National Statistics and Health Security Agency suggested around two million people in England and Scotland were experiencing self-reported long Covid symptoms four weeks after initial infection. The NHS defines long Covid as symptoms that persist longer than 12 weeks after the initial Covid infection. Long Covid numbers continue to swell as the Covid virus continues to circulate globally.
5 and 10 percent of people infected with Covid will develop long Covid. Post-exertion malaise is a flare-up of symptoms following minimal physical, mental or emotional activity. For some, walking upstairs, having a shower or even the psychological drain of a conversation can trigger a relapse and the after-effects can last weeks.
Stephanie deGiorgio, a 50-year-old GP from Dover, has had long Covid for six years with little improvement. Her daughter Alice, now 14, caught Covid from her mother at age eight and has long Covid. Stephanie deGiorgio described needing to spend a day in bed beforehand to prepare for work and two days afterwards to recover due to exhaustion.
She also described Alice as previously active but now spending 70 percent of her day in bed. Gabby Rudge-Cox, 42, from Appleton Roebuck near York, has had long Covid for more than five years. She has been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, ME/chronic fatigue syndrome, and postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) since developing long Covid.
Gabby Rudge-Cox described long Covid as having stopped her life dead in its tracks and left her a shell of her former self. A Covid booster vaccination is available this spring for three groups: adults aged 75 and over, care home residents, and people with weakened immune systems. Protection from earlier Covid vaccinations is starting to wane.
Vaccines offer the best protection against Covid. Specific treatments or therapies for long Covid patients remain unclear, with ongoing research into effective interventions. The exact mechanism by which Covid leads to long-term symptoms in some individuals is not fully understood.
Recovery rates and average symptom duration for long Covid patients have not been definitively established.