Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the level of functional impairment endured by patients suffering from long Covid.

The Government recognises that long COVID is a complex condition, with a wide range of symptoms, which, in the worst case, can be substantially incapacitating. The term ‘long COVID’ is an umbrella term, coined by patients and widely used to describe a wide range of symptoms or clusters of symptoms, of differing duration and severity, and potentially a number of distinct syndromes. The clinical case definition produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence identifies three phases of post-COVID-19 infection, the latter two of which are commonly described as long COVID, which are as follows:

• acute COVID-19, with signs and symptoms of COVID-19 for up to four weeks;
• ongoing symptomatic COVID-19, with signs and symptoms of COVID-19 for between four and 12 weeks; and
• post-COVID-19 syndrome, with signs and symptoms that develop during or after an infection consistent with COVID‑19, which continue for more than 12 weeks, and which are not explained by an alternative diagnosis. It usually presents with clusters of symptoms, often overlapping, which can fluctuate and change over time and can affect any system in the body. Post‑COVID‑19 syndrome may be considered before 12 weeks while the possibility of an alternative underlying disease is also being assessed.

The most common symptoms of long COVID are extreme tiredness or fatigue, feeling short of breath, problems with your memory and concentration, sometimes referred to as brain fog, heart palpitations, dizziness, joint pain, and muscle aches.