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Exhaustion, cough, shortness of breath: Around 17 million people in Europe suffer from Long Covid (symbol image)
Photo: Rolf Poss / IMAGO
More than 17 million people in Europe were affected by Long Covid symptoms in the first two years of the pandemic.
This is the result of an analysis carried out for the World Health Organization (WHO).
For the model calculation, the University of Washington had evaluated corona cases in 53 European countries, as announced by the Copenhagen-based WHO Europe Office.
The criterion was a symptom duration of at least three months in the years 2020 and/or 2021.
That's more than 16 percent of the 102.4 million people who contracted the coronavirus in the first two years of the pandemic in the countries surveyed, according to the WHO Regional Office for Europe's estimate released on Tuesday.
Previous estimates had assumed that about one in ten people would develop long-term consequences after a corona infection.
In its current statement, the World Health Organization now puts the proportion of people who develop Long Covid at 10 to 20 percent.
Long-Covid symptoms include fatigue, coughing, shortness of breath, loss of taste and smell, and depression.
They usually appear within the first three months after infection and last at least two months.
Previous studies indicate that the corona vaccinations provide good protection against long-term symptoms.
A study from Israel recently showed that a double vaccination offers effective protection against Long Covid.
The current WHO investigation indicates that women are twice as likely to develop Long Covid than men, the WHO said.
In addition, the long-Covid risk increases drastically after a severe corona infection, the treatment of which required hospitalization.
According to the model calculation, one in three affected women and one in five affected men struggle with symptoms of Long Covid after a severe course.
"We still have a lot to learn about Long Covid," said WHO Europe Director Hans Kluge during a WHO meeting in Tel Aviv.
"But this data makes it clear that we urgently need more analysis, more investment, more support and more solidarity with those affected." Millions of people suffered from debilitating symptoms in the months after a corona infection.
You shouldn't continue to suffer in silence, says Kluge.
Governments and health organizations must work together to find solutions.
According to the study, around 145 million people worldwide were affected by long-Covid symptoms in the first two years of the pandemic.
kry/dpa/AFP