COVID-19 and Long COVID

The severity of your illness after catching COVID-19 does not indicate whether you will go on to develop Long COVID. In other words, you may have a mild dose of COVID-19 and then develop Long COVID. Or, you may have been severely ill with COVID-19 and then suffer no longer term after-effects.

Long COVID, also called Post COVID-19 Syndrome, describes the signs and symptoms that develop during or following an infection consistent with COVID-19, which continue for more than 12 weeks and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis.

The condition usually presents with clusters of symptoms, often overlapping, which may change over time and can affect any system within your body.

People with Long COVID may have many different symptoms. These include:

• feeling very tired (fatigue)
• breathlessness
• low mood
• anxiety
• aches and pains
• loss of/poor appetite
• brain fog (making it difficult to think clearly or remember things)