‘Long Covid’ fears grow in UK as curbs end and delta expands

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For around 1 million people across the UK, Covid-19 has not gone away. Instead, it persisted, causing exhaustion, shortness of breath, cognitive issues, and other health issues.

With England Preparing to lift virtually all restrictions even as infections rise again, scientists fear the numbers affected by what has come to be known as the “long Covid” will climb much higher.

In a bid to better understand, the UK’s National Institute for Health Research on Sunday announced funding of around £ 20m ($ 27.5m) for 15 studies analyzing the causes of long Covid and its impacts on physical and mental health.

Britain’s rapid vaccination campaign has fully vaccinated 53.2% of Britain’s population, according to Bloomberg vaccine tracker, prompting the government to declare that the link between infections and hospitalizations has been “weakened.” Prime Minister Boris Johnson says people need to learn to live with the coronavirus.

British Health Secretary Sajid Javid tested positive for Covid

But millions of people still remain vulnerable, and those who have endured symptoms for weeks, months – or more than a year – say Covid’s long threat is being overlooked as policymakers focus on the numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

As the more contagious delta variant spreads, other countries trying to manage the next phase of their pandemic will likely find themselves facing a similar dilemma.

bedridden by covid

“When the government talks about opening up, there has been no reference to the long Covid,” said Christina Barratt, a 51-year-old former sales manager in Manchester who felt the first symptoms of Covid in late March 2020.

Prioritizing vaccination for vulnerable age groups means a lower percentage of young Britons were vaccinated in time for the curbs to end. This concerns Barratt. “Young people Feel invincible, but it can really happen to anyone, ”she said.

Barratt said she was bedridden for months after contracting Covid, sometimes so weak she couldn’t roll over or move. Sometimes, she said, he felt like she was in a coma even though she was awake. Meanwhile, Barratt lost his job and has since faced new symptoms, including numbness, tingling, and chronic fatigue.

One of Barratt’s biggest challenges is communicating his plight to others, including doctors and even family and friends. “Illness becomes part of who you are,” she said.

As the government defended its plan, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said cases could reach 100,000 a day and England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty warned there could be an increase in long COVIDs, especially among young people. Great Britain Friday proposed the possibility of reinstating some restrictions later in the year.

Long-term fears

The British strategy has been heavily criticized. More than 120 scientists have co-signed a letter in the Lancet medical journal of July 7, warning that the increase in infections could leave hundreds of thousands of people sick and disabled “for decades to come”. International experts have joined their UK counterparts online to survey a additional warning July 16.

A According to data from the Office for National Statistics released earlier this month, an estimated 962,000 people, or 1.5% of the population, have experienced long-term symptoms of self-reported Covid in the UK. More than a third of them say they have been in pain for more than a year.

Suffering for over a year

More than a third of all long-term Covid patients have had symptoms for at least a year

Source: Office for National Statistics

Separately, an Imperial College London A study published in June found that 38% of people who caught the virus reported one or more symptoms for at least 12 weeks. Researchers have estimated that, overall, more than 2 million adults in England may have had Covid for a long time so far.