Prevalence Of Ongoing Symptoms Following Coronavirus Covid-19 Infection In The Uk: 5 January 2023

6th January 2023

Estimates of the prevalence of self-reported long COVID and associated activity limitation, using UK Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey data. Experimental Statistics.

An estimated 2.1 million people living in private households in the UK (3.3% of the population) were experiencing self-reported long COVID (symptoms continuing for more than four weeks after the first confirmed or suspected coronavirus (COVID-19) infection that were not explained by something else) as of 4 December 2022.

Of people with self-reported long COVID, 191,000 (9%) first had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 less than 12 weeks previously, 1.9 million people (87%) at least 12 weeks previously, 1.2 million (57%) at least one year previously and 645,000 (30%) at least two years previously.

Of people with self-reported long COVID, 637,000 (30%) first had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 before Alpha became the main variant; this figure was 251,000 (12%) in the Alpha period, 382,000 (18%) in the Delta period and 778,000 (37%) in the Omicron period.

Long COVID symptoms adversely affected the day-to-day activities of 1.6 million people (76% of those with self-reported long COVID), with 389,000 (18%) reporting that their ability to undertake their day-to-day activities had been "limited a lot."

Fatigue continued to be the most common self-reported symptom of long COVID (71%), followed by difficulty concentrating (49%), shortness of breath (47%) and muscle ache (46%).

As a proportion of the UK population, the prevalence of self-reported long COVID was greatest in people aged 35 to 69 years, females, people living in more deprived areas, those working in social care, those aged 16 years and over who were not working and not looking for work, and those with another activity-limiting health condition or disability.

If you are worried about new or ongoing symptoms four or more weeks after having COVID-19, there are resources available to help. See the NHS webpages Long-term effects of coronavirus and Your COVID Recovery, which can help you to understand what has happened and what you might expect as part of your recovery. The time it takes to recover from COVID-19 is different for everyone, and the length of your recovery is not necessarily related to the severity of your initial illness or whether you were in hospital.

Read the full report HERE