Estimated 2 million in UK suffer long Covid symptoms more than four weeks after first infection: Survey

LONDON June 5: An estimated 2 million people in the UK have lingering covid-19 symptoms more than four weeks after their initial coronavirus infection.

Based on the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey of people living in private households in the UK, an estimated 3.1 per cent of the population were experiencing long covid symptoms as of 1 May.

This is 200,000 more people than the ONS’s previous estimated prevalence of 1.8 million, as of 3 April.

Of the estimated 2 million people with long covid, 1.4 million are thought to have been infected, or suspect they were infected, at least 12 weeks prior to their ongoing symptoms.

Meanwhile 826,000 are estimated to have been infected with covid-19, or had a suspected infection, at least one year earlier. About 376,000 would have first been infected at least two years ago.

Of those surveyed, 55 per cent with long covid had fatigue, the most commonly reported symptom. This was followed by 32 per cent of people experiencing shortness of breath, 23 per cent having a cough and 23 per cent experiencing muscle aches.