The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
‘Constellation’ of post-COVID symptoms will impact global healthcare, says WHO
Far more research is needed into the “constellation” of sometimes debilitating symptoms among people who’ve recovered from COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, adding that it “will impact” global health systems.
“We know that this post-COVID-19 condition or as patients, some patients also call it ‘long COVID’ and some clinicians call it ‘long COVID’, is a heterogenous group of symptoms that occur after the acute illness,” said Dr Janet Diaz, Team Lead, Health Care Readiness at WHO.
“So, these are symptoms or complications that can happen potentially a month after, three months after or even six months after, and as we are learning more, we are trying to understand the real duration of this condition.”
Citing reported symptoms such as neurological and physical illness, Dr Diaz noted that an unspecified number of sufferers had been unable to return to work, once they had recovered from the acute sickness caused by the new coronavirus.
“We are concerned obviously with the numbers of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus that the numbers…just by the magnitude of the pandemic, will impact health systems.”
Although comprehensive data on the condition is not yet available, the WHO official insisted that “these (symptoms) were real”.
“Some of the “more common” ailments were “fatigue, exhaustion and post-exertional malaise, cognitive disfunction”, along with what some patients called “brain fog”, Dr Diaz said, describing a “constellation of symptoms”.
Further research is also needed to drill down into how many COVID-19 sufferers who did not require intensive care unit (ICU) treatment still went on to develop the condition.
“What we know this far is that patients experiencing post-COVID-19 condition could have been hospitalized patients, those in the ICU. So we do know that has happened in patients who are very sick, but also in patients who were not managed inside the hospital, those patients that were deemed to have you know what we thought as mild illness and were treated in the ambulatory outpatient setting; but in fact, they have had complications and they have had persistent symptoms or new symptoms, you know persistent symptoms, or symptoms that waxed and waned, that came and went after their acute illness.”
To promote a better understanding of post-COVID sickness and support patient care and public health interventions, the WHO has called on clinicians and patients to report data on symptoms to the Organization’s Clinical Platform.
Its case report form – which is available in multiple languages - has been designed to report standardized clinical data from individuals after they have left hospital or after acute illness.
“What we don’t know is why it’s happening, so what is the pathophysiology or (inaudible) of this condition and so the researchers are really working hard to get to the answers of these questions, you know,” Dr Diaz said.
As of Friday 12 February 2021, WHO’s coronavirus tracker reported 107,252,265 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 2,355,339 deaths.
Regionally, the Americas have seen most cases to date, with 47,814,602 infections, followed by Europe (36,132,951), South-East Asia (13,141,859), Eastern Mediterranean (5,951,021), Africa (2,694,171) and Western Pacific (1,516,916).
- Exterior wide shot, UN flag flying, a cloudy day.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Dr Janet Diaz, Team Lead, Health Care Readiness, World Health Organization (WHO): “We know that this post-COVID-19 condition or as patients, some patients also call it, ‘long COVID’ and some clinicians call it ‘long COVID’, is a, is a heterogenous group of symptoms that occur after the acute illness. So, these are symptoms or complications that can happen potentially a month after, three months after or even six months after, and as we are learning more, we are trying to understand the real duration of this condition.”
- Wide shot, podium with speakers in a near-empty Room XIV in line with COVID-19 distancing measures, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Dr Janet Diaz, Team Lead, Health Care Readiness, World Health Organization (WHO): “We are concerned obviously with the numbers of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus that the numbers, even if it’s - we don’t know how common it is or how uncommon it is - but the numbers just by the magnitude of the pandemic will impact health systems.”
- Wide shot, podium with speakers in a near-empty Room XIV in line with COVID-19 distancing measures, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Dr Janet Diaz, Team Lead, Health Care Readiness, World Health Organization (WHO): “Some reports are showing that some of the more common symptoms of the post-COVID-19 condition can be fatigue, post-exertional malaise, and cognitive dysfunction and so and sometimes you may be hearing patients describe that as ‘brain fog’.”
- Medium wide-shot, UN staff member sitting in front of laptop, using listening device, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Dr Janet Diaz, Team Lead, Health Care Readiness, World Health Organization (WHO): “What we know this far is that patients experiencing post-COVID-19 condition could have been hospitalized patients, those in the ICU. So we do know that has happened in patients who are very sick, but also in patients who were not managed inside the hospital, those patients that were deemed to have, you know what we thought as mild illness and were treated in the ambulatory outpatient setting, but in fact, they have had complications and they have had persistent symptoms or new symptoms, you know persistent symptoms, or symptoms that waxed and waned, that came and went after their acute illness.”
- Medium wide-shot, journalists sitting in Room XIV, Palais des Nations
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Dr Janet Diaz, Team Lead, Health Care Readiness, World Health Organization (WHO): “What we don’t know is why it’s happening, so what is the pathophysiology or (inaudible) of this condition and so the researchers are really working hard to get to the answers of these questions, you know.”
- Medium shot, low angle-shot, UN staff member to rear, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani provided the following update on UN Human Rights Office work in Bangladesh at the bi-weekly press conference.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Humanitarian pauses in Gaza fighting will enable polio vaccine campaign to begin Sunday, says WHO
The United Nations has reached a tentative agreement with parties involved in the war in Gaza for humanitarian pauses to allow 640,000 children to be vaccinated amid an outbreak of the virus. According to UN World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the two-round vaccination campaign is due to begin on 1 September in central Gaza for three days, then move to the southern and northern areas. A second dose will be administered after four weeks.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva, Ravina Shamdasani Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights made the following comments on the recent adoption of the repressive law in Afghanistan.
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO , OCHA
In Gaza, repeated mass evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military are radically shrinking the space in which aid workers can operate and depriving war-weary Palestinians of desperately needed relief items and health care, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
27
1
1
Edited News | UNITED NATIONS
Geneva Conventions commemoration hears urgent call to respect laws of war
Seventy-five years since the ratification of the Geneva Conventions, a former child soldier-turned foreign minister of Sierra Leone urged greater international support for the key accords, highlighting their importance in rehabilitating him and tens of thousands of his fellow compatriots following the country’s bitter civil war.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR , WHO
Aid teams cite huge challenges in tackling new Sudan cholera outbreak
Protecting war-weary people in Sudan from a second deadly cholera outbreak is proving a huge challenge for aid teams after more than 16 months of heavy fighting, combined with flooding and ongoing access obstacles, they reported on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Mpox is “not the ‘new COVID’” and European governments need to show strong political commitment to eliminate it, while standing in solidarity with Africa, a top official of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
2
Edited News | OCHA , UNRWA , WHO , WFP
As the aid worker community commemorated fallen colleagues at solemn ceremonies marking World Humanitarian Day on Monday, frontline staff putting their lives on the line today highlighted the risks of providing help to vulnerable communities.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
OHCHR condemns settler attack in Jit, citing Israeli policy and impunity as causes.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , WFP
UN aid agencies on Friday welcomed the news that the Sudanese authorities will open Adre border crossing from Chad into Sudan, as the war-torn country faces famine or acute hunger in many regions, with many roads impassable owing to heavy rains.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief urges accountability for rights violations in Bangladesh's transition.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN rights chief alarmed by detentions and violence post-Venezuela elections.