NHS staff shortages ‘an emergency situation’ says Dr Hilary

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This is due to long COVID – also known as post-COVID-19 syndrome – which is characterised by symptoms lasting more than 12 weeks. Even those who suffer mild symptoms initially can experience long-term problems. Figures released by the Office for National Statistics on Thursday show at least 1.3 million people in the UK are experiencing long COVID.

The figures, which cover November 9 to December 6, suggest symptoms for an extended time are reported more commonly in the 35 to 69-year-old age group.

The ONS data of self-reported cases also showed more females suffering from the condition, as well as those in the health and social care or education sectors.

The data highlights around two percent of the population suffered with long COVID in early December.

Symptoms include fatigue – the most common – shortness of breath, loss of taste or smell, insomnia, difficulty remembering or concentrating, and chest pain.

Dr Stephen Griffin, associate professor at the University of Leeds and guest member of the independent SAGE group, told Express.co.uk the condition can affect any age group.

He said: “We are going to be in trouble here with the long-term health conditions caused by long COVID, even in children.”

There is scarce data available on how long COVID impacts children, but some studies have suggested significant effects are possible in younger people who become infected.

One study published in September 2021, but not yet peer-reviewed, suggested as many as one in seven children with COVID-19 could still have symptoms of the disease 15 weeks later.

Dr Griffin warned infections should be a cause for concern as “this is not a benign virus in children”.

Controlling case numbers through strict mask-wearing and social distancing – rather than vaccination alone – would lead to fewer instances of long COVID, Dr Griffin said.

He explained: “It causes far more serious illness compared to the other respiratory viruses in kids.

“It does lead to deaths, unfortunately.

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“Kids can get long COVID, and juvenile hospitalisations have been going up and up since summer. They’re probably gonna get worse now again.

“So it’s not a case that some people are saying that these vaccines are being approved in children to protect adults.

“That’s not the case at all. That’s part of it, but you absolutely need to vaccinate children to protect them as well.”

With soaring COVID-19 cases, Dr Griffin is adamant vaccination alone is not sufficient in itself to curb cases.

He added that the NHS remains “under immense pressure from this Omicron wave”, and measures are needed to act “pre-emptively” in order to stop the spread of the virus.

Dr Griffin said the Government should act to “prevent, rather than to wait and see if it gets out of control”, pointing to the exponential growth of this virus.

He added: “If we leave it and sit and watch and keep an eye on review the data, by the time we realise there’s something that we need to do, it’s too late and it’s out of control.”

He criticised the way that the strain on the health services is used to determine whether restrictions are needed to pull down hospitalisations and the admissions to intensive care units.

He said: “Just using the metrics of the NHS being able to cope, for me, isn’t really a good public health policy.

“A good public health policy is about preventing harm and preventing infection and preventing people dying.

“And we’re seeing people dying in thousands every week.

“So that’s not working just basing your policy on whether the NHS has enough beds for people to be sick in. It doesn’t wash with me.

“I’m afraid you need to be doing something to prevent these people getting sick in the first place.”

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