Dispatches on Channel 4 looks at the truth about long Covid and the lasting legacy of the virus – so what are the long Covid symptoms?
Approximately one in three people have reported having Covid-19 symptoms for over a month – or even up to a year.
But there is still so much to be learnt about the long term impact of the virus.
Here’s everything we know about long Covid so far…
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The Truth About Long Covid on C4
Dispatches reports from Bradford, one of the UK’s worst-hit communities during the pandemic.
It’s predicted that up to half a million people in the UK are now living with long Covid.
Dispatches asks if the NHS will be able to cope with the lasting legacy of the virus.
Narrated by Fatima Manji.
Long Covid symptoms: What is long Covid?
Long Covid is a term used to describe the effects of Covid-19 that continue for weeks or months beyond the initial illness.
For some people, coronavirus (Covid-19) can cause symptoms that last weeks or months after the infection has gone.
This is sometimes called post-Covid-19 syndrome or “long Covid”.
How long it takes to recover from coronavirus is different for everybody.
Many people feel better in a few days or weeks and most will make a full recovery within 12 weeks.
But, for around one in 10 people, symptoms can last for 12 weeks or longer.
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Long Covid symptoms: What are they?
There are lots of symptoms you can have after a coronavirus infection.
Common long COVID symptoms include extreme tiredness, shortness of breath, chest pain or tightness and brain fog.
You might also have insomnia, heart palpitations, dizziness, pins and needles and joint pain.
Depression and anxiety, tinnitus, earaches, sickness, diarrhoea, stomach aches, loss of appetite are also symptoms.
Other long Covid symptoms include a high temperature, cough, headaches, sore throat, changes to sense of smell or taste and rashes.
Fatigue, coughs and headaches are the most common complaints.
People with long Covid are not believed to stay infectious for longer.
Is long Covid contagious?
Long Covid is not more contagious than normal Covid-19.
The symptoms are caused by your body’s response to the virus continuing beyond the initial illness.
It does not make you contagious for longer.
How long can long-term Covid last?
Unfortunately, there is currently no way to predict how long recovery from long Covid will take.
Experience from other viruses suggests that most symptoms should go within three months.
Tiredness may last up to six months, however.
Contact your GP with any concerns you have.
Dispatches: The Truth About Long Covid airs on Monday March 15 2021 at 8pm on Channel 4.
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