Long Covid symptoms will ease over time, virologist says

In a Facebook post on Monday, Dr Yong Poovorawan said symptoms of Long Covid “may include fatigue, shortness of breath, headache, brain fog, muscle or joint ache, chest pain, coughing, diarrhoea, loss of the sense of smell and taste, depression and insomnia.

“This is not an uncommon phenomenon as patients of many other diseases also suffer from these lingering symptoms after recovery,” he said.

Yong added that Long Covid symptoms manifest more mentally than physically and are found more often in those who have recovered from severe Covid-19 symptoms. Older and unvaccinated persons are also more susceptible to Long Covid than younger vaccinated people.

“A recent study published in Lancet showed that significantly few Long Covid symptoms are found in patients who had contracted the Omicron variant of Covid-19 compared to the Delta variant,” he said. “It also revealed that patients of Long Covid will gradually get better over time.”

Yong added that people should not panic over the rising number of Long Covid patients. “The Covid-19 virus has infected several million people across the world and it is only natural to see many of those who have recovered having these lingering symptoms,” he said. “Also, you can minimise the occurrence of Long Covid by getting vaccinated and getting treatment early after testing positive to prevent symptoms from worsening.”