Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya recently hinted at the long COVID impact and advised recovered citizens to refrain from strenuous activities. Health experts termed Mandaviya’s warning as the tip of the iceberg. In the USA and many European countries, disabilities due to long COVID are recognised by the Social Security Administration. However, India has not yet made such provisions. With potentially thousands of long COVID cases going unrecognised and with no data available, the situation appears grim. The BKC COVID Centre was the only jumbo centre in the country to screen discharged patients for long COVID. Over 13,000 patients were screened between September 2020 and March 2022 (see box).

Effects of long COVID

Almost 20-30 per cent people experience health problems long after having acute COVID-19. While most recover within a few weeks, those wild mild infection or unvaccinated people might have generalised multi-organ symptoms for a long time. Each time a person gets infected or reinfected, their chances of getting long-COVID increase.