Two thirds of first-wave Covid patients had long-term symptoms: Study

London: Over two-thirds of non-hospitalised patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the first wave of the pandemic developed long COVID, according to a study conducted in Spain.

The results, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, reinforce the hypothesis that long-COVID symptoms are not correlated with infection severity alone.

The study found that nearly 60 per cent of hospitalised COVID-19 patients and 68 per cent of their nonhospitalised counterparts seen at two healthcare centres in Madrid, early in the pandemic reported still having at least one symptom two years later.