The four key symptoms of long Covid people are reporting

Estimates suggest that around 1.3 million people in the UK (around one in 50) are likely to be suffering from long Covid.

The numbers include over half a million people who either first became infected with Covid, or suspected they had the virus, at least one year ago.

Data from the Office for National Statistics are based on self-reported long Covid and includes a representative sample of people in private households.

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The NHS website describes long Covid as “symptoms that last weeks or months after the infection has gone”.

While many people usually feel better in a few days or weeks with a full recovery within 12 weeks, some people can experience symptoms for a much longer time.

In the four weeks approaching December 6, responses were collected by the ONS – this means the data excludes the surge in cases coming from the spread of the Omicron variant because it came afterwards.

Among the 1.3 million people with long Covid, 70 per cent (892,000) first had or suspected they had Covid-19 at least 12 weeks previously.

Meanwhile, 40 per cent (506,000) first had the virus at least a year before the data was collected.

Around 809,000 people are estimated to have their day-to-day activities severely affected by long Covid – this is close to two-thirds of people with self-reported long Covid.

What are the most commonly reported symptoms of long Covid?

Among those that reported issues with long Covid, 247,000 stated that their ability to carry out day-to-day activities has been “limited a lot”, according to the ONS.

The most common symptom of those suffering from long Covid are:

• Fatigue (51 per cent)
• Loss of smell (37 per cent)
• Shortness of breath (36 per cent)
• Difficulty concentrating (28 per cent)

While these are the most common symptoms of long Covid according to the ONS, other common symptoms include:

• Chest pain or tightness
• Difficulty sleeping (insomnia)
• Heart palpitations
• Dizzinesss
• Pins and needles
• Join pain
• Depression and anxiety
• Tinnitus or earaches
• Feeling sick, diarrhoea, stomach aches, loss of appetite
• A high temperature, cough, headaches, sore throat, changes to sense of smell or taste
• Rashes