‘Long Covid’ can occur in up to 30% of recovered patients: Thai expert

BANGKOK (The Nation/Asia News Network): Long Covid-19, or Post-Covid-19, conditions can occur in 15-30 per cent of patients who have recovered, with symptoms lasting from 4 to 12 weeks after infection, Siriraj Hospital dean of the Faculty of Medicine Dr Prasit Watanapa said on Tuesday (March 22).

“Long Covid could have more than 50 symptoms, but the most common are fatigue, shortness of breath, headache, muscle ache, joint ache, chest pain, coughing, diarrhoea, loss of smell and depression,” he said.

“In some cases, patients are reported to have trouble concentrating, while some athletes reported that their physical ability was not at the same level before they contracted Covid,” Prasit said.

“It is not yet conclusive what the cause of these symptoms are, but medical communities speculate it might be due to the patients’ lungs and immune system having to fully recover from Covid, or due to patients developing anxiety and depression while being treated for Covid-19, or remaining in isolation,” he said.

Prasit said a foreign study found that patients who had been fully vaccinated before contracting Covid-19 were less likely to develop Long Covid after they recovered.

“However, this study needs further research and monitoring over an extended period before we can rule that vaccines actually help,” he said.

“In Thailand, the public health ministry has set up teams to monitor Long Covid in recovered patients so that we can understand these conditions better and find appropriate treatment,” Prasit added.