What Gwyneth Paltrow gets wrong about long Covid

As the Covid vaccination continues to roll out across the country with impressive speed and daily numbers of cases continue to steadily fall, the allure of the gradual release of lockdown restrictions into the sunlit uplands of something resembling a more normal existence grows stronger by the day. Unfortunately for many people – latest estimates suggest up to 200,000 in the UK – the long term effects of having been infected with the virus continue. Known as ‘long Covid’ or ‘post-COVID syndrome, it is now defined by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as ‘signs and symptoms that develop during or following an infection consistent with COVID-19 which continue for more than 12 weeks and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis’. This appears to affect around 10% of people with Covid-19 and is associated with an extremely wide range of post-viral symptoms, with the most common ones I am now seeing in my surgery being significant fatigue – even on minimal exertion – breathlessness, generalised muscle and joint pains, poor concentration, and altered mood although many other presentations are possible.