Major study into effects of long Covid to be carried out by Chinese University of Hong Kong
- First major Hong Kong study into the long-term effects of Covid-19 to be carried out
- Bilingual online survey to be sent to all recovered Covid-19 patients to help form future treatment plans
Hong Kong’s first major study into the effects of long Covid will be carried out by one of the city’s leading universities in a bid to provide information to the government on future treatment plans.
The research team from Chinese University’s faculty of medicine said on Tuesday it would send a bilingual online survey to all recovered Covid-19 patients in Hong Kong, including the elderly and children, to learn about how long Covid symptoms affected them.
“There’s likely a very large number of people who have a disability from long Covid given the reality that at least 1 million people in Hong Kong have contracted the virus during the fifth wave in Hong Kong,” Professor Ng Siew Chien said. “Long Covid can impair a person’s ability to work, which could have economic consequences for their families.”
The announcement came after a faculty study showed 70 per cent of patients had long Covid – the presence of at least one persistent symptom for four weeks or more after recovery.
An earlier survey by the same team found 76 per cent of patients had suffered from long Covid.
Symptoms include fatigue, poor memory, sleep problems, reduced ability to exercise, chest pain, shortness of breath, joint pain, anxiety, brain fog and hair loss.
The survey aimed to collect replies from at least 10,000 people in three months.
About 1.27 million Hongkongers have been infected with Covid-19, while 9,420 residents have died from complications related to the virus.
