The World Health Organization has warned in a new report that millions of COVID-19 survivors continue to suffer debilitating and lingering symptoms long after their initial bout of the disease, with major social, health and economic consequences.

Geneva.- Dr. Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, told reporters: “The burden is real, and it is significant: about one in ten COVID-19 sufferers remain unwell after 12 weeks, and many for much longer.”

The WHO’s report on the so-called “Long COVID” was led by Professor Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. McKee said: “Those suffering from it describe a varying combination of overlapping symptoms. Chest pain, muscle pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, and what patients describe as brain fog, among many, many others.” (RHC)