One in 20 people likely to suffer from ‘Long COVID’, but who are they?

Summary

in recent months we’ve seen increasing attention paid to people with ‘long COVID’, whose symptoms were not serious enough to land them in hospital yet have persisted for many weeks or months. 

This long-term illness is frustrating and debilitating for those who are affected, with the potential to have a significant impact on wider society. But it hasn’t been clear how many people are suffering from long COVID or who is most at risk.

The latest analysis of data from thousands of users of the COVID Symptom Study app from ZOE, published as a preprint, shows that one in 20 people are likely to suffer from COVID-19 symptoms lasting more than 8 weeks.