Almost 20,000 people in the country suffer from long COVID, which is a term to describe the effects of COVID-19 that continue for weeks or months beyond the initial illness.

Deputy Health Minister Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali said the affected 19,890 patients have been referred for follow-up treatments at health facilities.

The five main symptoms exhibited by these individuals were lethargy (78.9%), breathing difficulties when performing certain tasks (52.9%), coughing (18.1%), insomnia (14.5%), and anxiety (10.4%), The Star quoted Noor Azmi telling the Dewan Rakyat in reply to a question from a GPS lawmaker, yesterday.

According to him, patients have been reported suffering from long COVID syndrome between four and 12 weeks after recovery, and they are commonly referred to specialist doctors at public and private health facilities for follow-up treatment.

To date, more than 2.67 million people have been infected with COVID-19 in the country, and over 30,700 have died from it.

The global coronavirus infection and death tally has surpassed 268 million and 5.29 million, respectively.


Source: The Star
Photo source: medicalnewstoday.com