Sopuruchi Onwuka, with agency reports

World Health Organization (WHO) has advised people who suffered the novel coronavirus disease or COVID-19 to seek further medical attention if symptoms persisted after the acute phase of the sickness.

Covid-19 technical lead at WHO, Maria Van Kerkhove, told media correspondents at a press conference that emerging reports of lingering symptoms after patients have been dully discharged from hospitals have become sources of new concern to the global agency.

She urged people struggling with the after-effects of the virus despite having recovered from the acute phase to seek medical help, adding that post COVID-19 syndrome also called Long COVID remains one of the most mysterious aspects of the pandemic.

Checks by The Oracle Today showed that COVID-19 infected some 201,295,892 by Thursday evening. The disease has so far killed 4,275,292. About 181,221,610 recovered from the sickness. The figures are however limited to victims that were confirmed infected, recovered and dead at medical facilities. It widely suspected that the numbers, especially of the dead, could much higher especially in developing countries where data collation is low.

According to data by the University of Oxford, 4.32 billion doses have been administered globally, and 42.15 million are now administered each day. They show that 29.4% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 15% is fully vaccinated.

Unfortunately, only 1.1% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. Data at Bing.com showed that new COVID-19 vaccinations ended in Nigeria in June.

While the efficacy of the vaccines has been validated by the low impact of new infections, worries have persisted over the lasting impact of patients who have recovered. And the WHO said it would bring the post COVID-19 syndrome to front burner.

Van Kerkhove stated that many people already infected by SARS-CoV-2 are suffering from long term effects.

“We don’t know for how long these effects last and we’re even working on a case definition to better understand and describe what this post-Covid syndrome is,” said Van Kerkhove.

She said the WHO was working to have better rehabilitation programmes for Long Covid sufferers plus broader research to gain a better understanding of what the syndrome is and how it can be managed.

The WHO has held a series of seminars this year aimed at expanding understanding of post-Covid conditions, hearing not only from scientists and doctors but also directly from sufferers themselves.

Janet Diaz, the clinical care lead in the WHO’s emergencies programme who leads the organization’s Long Covid efforts, said there had been more than 200 reported symptoms.

They include chest pain, tingling and rashes, she said.

Diaz said some patients had symptoms that dragged on from the acute phase; others got better and then relapsed, with conditions that could come and go; while others had symptoms that only appeared after recovering from the acute phase.

Diaz said some people seemed to have post-Covid conditions for three months, and others up to six months.

“We are concerned there may be a small proportion that go on to nine months — and to longer than that,” said Diaz.

The US expert said it was not yet fully understood what caused the post-viral symptoms, with various hypotheses including neurological problems, the immune response to the infection, and the virus persisting in some organs.

Van Kerkhove said: “We advise anyone who is suffering from the long-term effects to seek help.”