Research: Two million Britons are suffering from long-term Covid symptoms

Two million people in England and Scotland are still suffering from long-term symptoms of coronavirus (long Covid), of which 381,000 say they have severely limited their daily activities, according to official research released today.

Britain’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that 3.3% of people surveyed, which was conducted between February 6 and March 7, reported experiencing Covid symptoms that lasted more than four weeks after they were initially infected with the virus , symptoms that were not due to another medical condition.

This figure is slightly higher than the 2.9% of people who reported experiencing long Covid symptoms in a similar ONS survey in March 2023, a UK-wide survey, although the ONS clarified that the methods of of two surveys were not exactly comparable.

Why are the government and employers concerned?

Unlike other large, wealthy countries, in Britain labor force participation has fallen since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, causing concern for government and employers.

A major factor is the rise in the number of working-age people who are chronically ill, a number that has increased by about 700,000 since the pandemic.

Today’s ONS survey figures show that 9.1% of people not working or looking for work report long-term Covid symptoms, three times the rate among the population as a whole.

What ages are more likely to experience long Covid symptoms

People aged 45-54 are more likely to experience long Covid symptoms – 5% of the age group – and women are 20% more likely to report such symptoms than men.

Of people who reported long-term Covid symptoms in today’s survey, 51% said they started more than two years ago and 71% said they lasted at least a year.

Britain has recorded more than 230,000 deaths from Covid-19, a similar death rate to the US and Italy but higher than other countries in western Europe, according to World Health Organization figures.

Today’s ONS figures were collated with the UK’s Health Security Agency, based on a sample of 139,000 participants.

RES-EMP