The number of people suffering symptoms associated with long Covid for more than a year in the UK is now more than a half a million – up more than 15% in a little more than a month.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) data covering the period to the 6 December showed substantial increases in the number of people suffering covid-related symptoms across all time periods since the end of October.
It revealed 1.3 million people have been suffering long Covid symptoms for more than four weeks, compared with 1.2m people at the end of October.
The number of people suffering long Covid symptoms for at least 12 weeks rose to 892,000 from 862,000 at the end of October, while the number who said they had Covid symptoms for at least a year also rose to 506,000 from 439,000.
Fatigue continued to be the most common symptom of long Covid (51%), followed by loss of smell (37%), shortness of breath (36%), and difficulty concentrating (28%).