The head of the World Health Organization made his strongest comments yet about the devastation being caused by long COVID and urged world leaders to launch immediate and “sustained” efforts to tackle the “very serious” crisis. Writing for the Guardian newspaper, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world has never been in a better position to end the pandemic that has killed almost 6.5 million and infected more than 600 million, but that many are experiencing “prolonged suffering” as symptoms linger for months.
The WHO estimates than 10% to 20% of survivors suffer mid- and long-term symptoms such as fatigue, breathlessness and cognitive dysfunction. Women are twice as likely as men to suffer long COVID, which can last longer than a year. “While the pandemic has changed dramatically due to the introduction of many lifesaving tools, and there is light at the end of the tunnel, the impact of long COVID for all countries is very serious and needs immediate and sustained action equivalent to its scale,” Tedros wrote. His piece was part of a new series by the paper titled “Living with long COVID.” See also: How to approach Medicare’s 2023 enrollment period Researchers still have much to learn about the causes of long COVID as well as the best treatments, making it impo …