Long Covid will be our economic downfall and continue to blight lives, expert warns

Experts fear condition will hit people’s ability to work and have costs for employers and government, Jane Dalton writes

Some Long Covid patients are still struggling years after catching the virus (Getty Images)

Long Covid will have a continuing, cumulative and significant effect on the UK’s economy by blighting people’s lives, an infectious diseases doctor has warned.

The condition, which can even affect vaccinated people, is likely to arise from high levels of coronavirus infection after the government dropped all restrictions in England, according to Nathalie MacDermott.

Sufferers of post-Covid-19 syndrome, known as long Covid, may have health problems for many months – and possibly years – after being infected with the disease.

Symptoms range from shortness of breath and concentration problems, or “brain fog”, to tiredness and weakness so extreme that they are unable to work. Some people have described suffering excruciating pain.

The NHS says the chances of having long-term symptoms does not seem to be linked to the severity of someone’s Covid.

Older people, women, smokers and obese people are most at risk.

Dr MacDermott, a clinical lecturer at Kings College London, said the condition had a substantial effect on people’s ability to work, as well as costs to government and businesses.

Around 1.5 million people in the UK, 2.4 per cent of the population, have long Covid, according to estimates from the Office for National Statistics, a figure that is expected to grow as a result of the Omicron wave, during which millions of people have been infected.

Dr MacDermott, a paediatric infectious diseases doctor, who herself suffers from the condition, told a Royal Society conference that failing to consider the condition when lifting restrictions and advising on vaccinations for children would be the UK’s downfall in economic terms.

High infection rates would lead to more long Covid cases that would blight people’s lives, harm children’s education and undermine the economy, she said.

“We talk about hospitalisations and we talk about deaths, but I don’t hear people saying long Covid is an issue. We need to consider that when we adjust our public health measures, when we introduce different measures to try and contain this pandemic, or we decide to not have any measures whatsoever,” she said, The Guardian reported.

“Economically, that is going to be to our downfall in the coming years.”

Around 40 per cent of people living with long Covid for more than a year may need adjustments to accessibility or their job roles to return to work or other activities, she said.

Dr MacDermott, who caught Covid in 2020, now has to take cabs to work and use a mobility scooter after developing long-term symptoms.

As well as affecting individuals’ lives, she said, the condition would have a substantial effect on people’s ability to work, their earning potential, and would involve costs for employers and government through disability funding.

“That’s going to be a significant hit to our economy, not just to people’s lives,” she added.