BMJ - We have heard your message about long covid and we will act, says WHO (3 September 2020)

Summary

In this blog for The BMJ, several doctors who are experiencing long term impacts of Covid-19 share their report of a meeting with the World Health Organization's Covid-19 response team in August 2020. They highlighted the importance of patient-led research and and engaging with patients with Long Covid.

Content

At the meeting, doctors Clare Rayner and Amali Lokugamage emphasised the following points:

• Long Covid needs to be recognised as a separate disease entity to acute Covid, as the symptoms persist from the onset, are relapsing and last for months.
• Epidemiological studies counting the number of people affected need to be done.
• Long Covid is not “mild.”
• There is significant pathology that needs to be ruled out.
• Many patients have experienced a delay in being seen, believed, and medically assessed, and this needs to improve.
• Cardiac disease and other major organ disease need to be excluded before rehabilitation begins.
• We need to consider the occupational health implications of long absences in the work force.
• Patient experience needs to inform research and guideline development.

WHO responded with assurances that they had heard and taken on the concerns raised. They committed to further recognition of, and research and guidance around Long Covid, and to ensuring that patient input shaped the WHO response to Covid-19.