Cases of 'long Covid' on the rise as patients suffer after-effects months after recovery

'Long Covid' is leaving people with so-called ‘brain fog’ for months after their initial recovery, NHS experts have revealed.

Dr Michael Beckles, consultant respiratory and general physician at The Wellington Hospital, and the Royal Free NHS Foundation, said he has seen a number of patients suffering from ongoing effects of the disease. He said the main symptom being reported is breathlessness, with patients also describing a brain fog.

Dr Beckles said: "I'm seeing more and more patients who have had Covid-19 infection confirmed in the laboratory and on X-ray, who have cleared the infection, and are now still presenting with persistent symptoms. "Some of those symptoms are respiratory, such as breathlessness, chronic cough. "And some have other symptoms such as what the patients describe as brain fog, and I understand that to be a difficulty in concentration."

"Some still have loss of sense of taste or smell."

He added that it can be frustrating for patients because investigations after the infection can be normal, yet the symptoms persist.

Dr Beckles is part of a team of specialists at the new post-COVID-19 rehabilitation unit at The Wellington Hospital.

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Source: The Telegraph, 21 September 2020