With Covid cases rising at an alarming rate across the globe, precautions, and measures to combat the disease are being implemented again. While some people are being affected by Covid and are recovering in a few weeks, many others have started to experience the long-term effects of the virus.

The term ‘Long Covid’ was first coined by Elisa Perego, an Italian woman in May 2020 when she was affected by the virus and experienced lasting symptoms. Almost three years after the start of the pandemic, scientists and researchers are still trying to figure out why some people get Long Covid and why a small portion, particularly women experience lasting symptoms, often several days after their recovery.

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Millions of people worldwide are now reporting Long Covid, experiencing extended symptoms including fatigue, lung problems, and brain fog, and other neurological symptoms. Evidence has suggested that although most patients recover within a year, the virus has also contributed to more than 3,500 US deaths.

What is Long Covid?

Long Covid or post-Covid conditions are a wide range of new and returning, or even ongoing health problems that people experience after being infected with the virus that causes Covid-19.

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Most people with Covid-19 recover within a few days to a few weeks after the infection, and at least four weeks after that is the start of when post-Covid conditions are first identified. Anyone who was infected can experience post-Covid conditions.

Most people with Long-Covid experience symptoms days after they had been affected by Covid-19, but some people who reported having experienced Long-Covid did not even realize when they had gotten infected by the virus.

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No test that determines if the experienced symptoms or condition is due to Covid-19 has yet been discovered, however, a healthcare provider may be able to diagnose post-Covid conditions based on one’s health history, including if they had had a diagnosis of Covid-19 either by a positive test or by symptoms or exposure, or by doing a health examination.

Long-Covid conditions are also known as long-haul Covid, post-acute Covid-19, and Chronic Covid.