The number of people in the UK suffering long Covid symptoms for more than a year has rocketed above the one million mark for the first time, according to official figures.
Latest Office for National Statistics data indicates 1.1m had been dealing with long Covid for at least 12 months – up by more than 200,000 from last month’s figure of 892,000.
And the number of people who have had long Covid for at least two years rose above half a million for the first time – to hit 514,000, up from 429,000 a month earlier.
The data up to 3 September also indicates the number of people suffering long Covid symptoms for at least 12 weeks was 1.8m, up from 1.7 million people in late July.
And those with long Covid for more than four weeks rose by 300,000 to 2.3 million people over the same period.
Fatigue continued to be the most common symptom reported as part of individuals’ experience of long Covid (69% of those with self-reported long Covid), followed by difficulty concentrating (45%), shortness of breath (42%), and muscle ache (40%).
Hundreds of thousands more inactive workers
David Pye, a director at Broadstone, noted that as rates of inactivity in the labour market due to long-term sickness soar, it should not be forgotten that some of those affected will be NHS workers.
“Long Covid is a major issue for the UK’s society and economy with such a significant proportion of the population suffering from its ill-effects,“ he said.
“Fatigue and difficulty concentrating are two of the main symptoms of long Covid which explains why the prevalence of long Covid is likely to be such a significant factor.
“There are 640,000 more inactive workers compared to the start of the pandemic with 350,000 out of work because of long-term sickness, a figure which rose by nearly 80,000 in the last three-month period. Continued NHS delays for treatment with the backlog now totalling over 6.8 million people are not helping the matter either.“
Proactively reassessing support
Pye added that businesses need to be proactively assessing how they can attract, retain and support their employees either to avoid low productivity as a result of long-term illnesses or to stem continued exits from the workplace.
“For instance, given the current pressures in the public health system, employer-provided private healthcare insurance will become increasingly sought after for those worried about how illness might impact their financial and personal situation,” he continued.
“Putting in place measures like this will give workers the ability to quickly access treatment should they need it at an affordable cost. It can drive a transformative change in absenteeism which improves productivity, as well as having a broadly positive impact on wellbeing through the increased confidence in employees’ health and finances.”