OSAK and the Long Covid Cyprus team proceeded to prepare audio-visual material with the aim of promoting the rights of patients left behind by the Covid-19 disease.
From the data registered in the NHS software, the number of these patients in Cyprus exceeds 30.000 and unfortunately will continue to increase since the coronavirus is not going to disappear.
At an international level, Long Covid patients number several millions, while it is estimated that one in 8 people infected with the coronavirus continue to show symptoms for a long time after their illness.
At the local level, a new online questionnaire made available by the Long Covid Cyprus group to its members in the period 23 October – 5 November 2022, with the aim of recording the burden on their health from long-term symptoms and health care needs, received 419 responses.
65% of the participants stated that they were unvaccinated at the time of diagnosis with COVID19, while the remaining 35% were vaccinated either with the initial regimen (9%) or with a booster dose (26%).
The duration of their symptoms after the acute infection was 16-60 weeks (average 43.5 weeks), an observation that confirms that in some the long-term symptoms last more than 1 year since the Long Covid Cyprus group also includes people who had contracted the coronavirus years 2020 and 2021.
Participants had an average of 8 visits to a physician due to these symptoms (range 0-17 visits), while 78% also visited a physician of another specialty than the personal physician.
Finally, for these symptoms, 59% stated that they visited another health professional besides a doctor (e.g. physiotherapist, psychologist, dietician, speech therapist).