Most infections with COVID resolve within the first 4 weeks.
“Long COVID” is an informal term that is commonly used to describe signs and symptoms that continue or develop after an acute infection of COVID.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Long Covid as follows: “Post Covid-19 condition occurs in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed SARS CoV-2 infection, usually three months from the onset of Covid-19 with symptoms that last for at least 2 months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis.”
Long Covid is split into 2 categories, depending on how long you have ongoing symptoms for:
Ongoing symptomatic COVID
This is where your symptoms continue for more than 4 weeks. If your symptoms last for longer than 12 weeks, it will then be called;
Post-COVID Syndrome
This is where your ongoing symptoms continue for longer than 12 weeks and cannot be explained by any other condition.
Long COVID is continually being researched- we may never have all the answers just like any area of medicine and healthcare. Especially as this is a new health condition to us.
Each individual will experience COVID recovery differently with differing recovery times.
The course of recovery does not appear to be related to the severity of the initial infection.
Many people make a full recovery within 12 weeks but some people do not.
