Rabat – A report from the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that at least 17 million people in the 53 member states of the organization’s European region have experienced long-term COVID-19 effects after recovering from the disease.
The same modeling used for the report revealed that 145 million people around the world suffered from symptoms of long COVID during the first two years of the pandemic. These symptoms include shortness of breath, fatigue with bodily pains, and cognitive problems.
This represented a 307% increase in new long COVID cases identified by the organization, who attributed the rise to an increase in confirmed COVID cases throughout 2021.
“Millions of people in our Region, straddling Europe and central Asia, are suffering debilitating symptoms many months after their initial COVID-19 infection,” said Hans Henry Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. “They cannot continue to suffer in silence.”
The WHO official stressed the need for more analysis and investment into researching the long-term effects of the virus, calling on governments and the WHO’s partners to collaborate and find solutions.
WHO Europe announced a partnership with Long COVID Europe, an organization that includes 19 European associations, to raise awareness of the issue and assist further research.
COVID-19 infections have hit a record low in recent weeks as vaccination campaigns continue worldwide, but researchers remain concerned about the long-term effects of the disease.
The lingering effects of COVID-19 are referred to as Long COVID, and are said to have the potential to affect every organ system in the body.
Symptoms include fatigue and memory problems, as well as frequent headaches, shortness of breath, loss of smell or taste, and muscle weakness. Research is still being conducted to know exactly how many people have experienced the effects and how to mitigate them.
