Covid: The ‘severely limiting’ symptoms to spot as latest wave of cases engulfs the UK
Omicron sub-variant discussed by infectious disease expert
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Covid cases are skyrocketing once again in the UK and the peak of the wave is to be reached. New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that 2.7 million people in private households are estimated to have had COVID last week, up 18 percent from 2.3 million the previous week. With broad swathes of Britons becoming infected, attention has once again turned to the symptoms.
In addition to the immediate symptoms of Covid, it’s important to watch out for the signs of long Covid.
Long Covid is defined by NICE guidelines as having new or ongoing symptoms four weeks or more after the start of disease.
ZOE research with King’s College London indicates that the Omicron variant is much less likely to cause long Covid than other variants.
The ZOE Health Study pools together and analyses data from thousands of ZOE app users every week.
According to the ZOE data, long Covid is 20-50 percent less common in Omicron compared to Delta, depending on age and time since vaccination.
Nonetheless, one in 25 people who catch Covid with Omicron will go on to develop Long Covid, the ZOE team warns.
So, what should you be looking for?
According to the ZOE team, symptoms of long Covid include fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of concentration and joint pain.
“The symptoms can adversely affect day-to-day activities, and in some cases can be severely limiting,” they wrote.
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The good news is, you’re far less likely to develop long Covid following Omicron infection.
The ZOE team identified 56,003 UK adult cases in the ZOE Health Study app first testing positive between December 20 2021 and March 9 2022, when Omicron was the dominant strain.
They then compared these cases to 41,361 cases first testing positive between June 1 2021 and November 27 2021 when the Delta variant was dominant.
In order to assess the association between long Covid and the infection period, the researchers adjusted by sex, IMD (Index of Multiple Deprivation), age, the presence of comorbidities, vaccination status (one, two, or three doses), and body-mass index, all of which are related to the risk of long Covid.
They also looked at the time between infection and most recent vaccination considering three groups, three months, three to six months, and more than six months to allow for potential waning of immunity from vaccination.
The analysis showed that 4.4 percent of Omicron cases were long Covid, compared to 10.8 percent of Delta cases.
However, the absolute number of people experiencing long Covid was in fact higher in the Omicron period.
This was because of the vast numbers of people infected with Omicron from December 2021 to February 2022.
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The UK Office of National Statistics estimated the numbers of people with Long Covid actually increased from 1.3 million in January 2022 to two million as of 1st May 2022.
Doctor Claire Steves from King’s College London who was the lead author of The Lancet letter said: “The Omicron variant appears substantially less likely to cause Long Covid than previous variants but still one in 25 people who catch COVID-19 go on to have symptoms for more than four weeks.
“Given the numbers of people affected it is important that we continue to support them at work, at home and within the NHS.”
Meanwhile, the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus has continued to increase in all age groups and regions in England, the ONS said.
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