According to a survey, 1.3 million Britons suffer from “long Covid”

According to a study by the UK’s National Bureau of Statistics, as of December 6, 2021, 1.3 million people had symptoms of Covid long, representing 2% of the country’s population.

It is a disease still little known, but which might have important repercussions on the society in the near future. When certain symptoms of Covid-19 persist beyond four weeks following infection, we speak of “Covid long”. This is a difficult condition to identify, since it is not detectable through tests. PCR or antigen that is used for Covid-19.

For this reason, the UK’s National Bureau of Statistics has carried out a large survey to try to understand how many people are affected by this disease in the country. This involved 352,000 citizens, constituting a representative sample of the British population and thus making it possible to make projections across the country. The BBC relay the results of this study.

“Around 1.3 million people in the UK have symptoms of Covid which persist beyond four weeks following infection, which means they have long Covid”, writes the site of the British television channel, which specifies that these figures published today refer to a study relating to the four weeks preceding December 6, 2021. Surprisingly, 40% of those interviewed declared having caught the virus there at least a year ago, which shows the persistence that the Covid can have long.

The survey carried out by the National Bureau of Statistics also provides indications on the symptoms of people affected by this disease. “51% of them feel fatigue, 37% a loss of smell, 36% have difficulty breathing and 28% have difficulty concentrating”, bring it back BBC. For 20% of those interviewed, the symptoms of long Covid are so important that they “Severely limit their abilities in daily activities”.

Good news, however, according to Dr. David Strain, whose words are reported by Sky News, this study would prove that vaccination is also effective once morest long Covid. Indeed, he explains, “the fact that these figures [du Covid long] did not increase in proportion to the increase in new cases [qui ont explosé au Royaume-Uni] indicates that vaccination not only protects once morest death and hospitalizations, but also reduces the risk of having a long Covid ”.