Almost a quarter of people who think they have had long Covid say it has adversely affected their household finances.
And 36% of working adults who may have experienced long Covid said their work had been affected by the pandemic, compared with just 24% of colleagues who had not had Covid.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) data covering April to June 2021 found 22% of people who may have experienced long Covid believed their household finances had been affected by the pandemic, compared to just 13% of those who have not had Covid.
The majority (61%) of those who may have experienced long Covid said this had negatively affected their general wellbeing, with 27% reporting it had negatively affected their ability to exercise.
The latest ONS estimate suggested around one million people in the UK were suffering from the effects of long Covid, while the Imperial College London study showed this could be as much as two million.
Commenting on the data, Tim Vizard, principal research officer at the ONS, said: “Although no single definition of long Covid exists it is likely it affects people in different ways and research is already showing the potential impacts on physical health.
“Today’s research highlights the potential for people’s mental health, wellbeing or work to be impacted by long Covid.
“We’ve found more people who may have had long Covid report negative impacts, however more work is needed to disentangle the effects of long Covid from a variety of factors such as age, sex or disability.”
The data showed 3.6% of adults said they had experienced long Covid while a further 2.6% were unsure if they had experienced long Covid.
One in 10 reported they had at some point had a positive test for or believed they had Covid but had not experienced long Covid.
