Earlier this week, the World Health Organisation (“WHO”) provided a definition for “Post COVID-19”, the condition that has up to recently, been widely referred to as “long COVID”.

The WHO’s publication, which estimated that around 10% to 20% of those infected with Covid-19 experienced lingering or prolonged symptoms for the months that followed initial infection, noted that common symptoms of Post COVID-19 were said to include; 

“…fatigue, shortness of breath, cognitive dysfunction but also others… which generally have an impact on everyday functioning. Symptoms may be new onset, following initial recovery from an acute COVID-19 episode, or persist from the initial illness. Symptoms may also fluctuate or relapse over time.”  

With a clinical definition now provided, the challenge will be to manage those suffering from long COVID effectively.  From a UK perspective, and through a paper published on the Office for National Statistics (“ONS”) on September 2021, an estimated 970,000 people (as at 1 August 2021) living in private households in the UK (which equates to around 1.5% of the population) were experiencing self-reported long COVID (being symptoms that persisted for more than four weeks after the first suspected exposure to the virus, and that were not explained by something else).  

From an employment point of view, the question remains as to whether long COVID will be regarded as a disability in terms of the Equality Act 2010.  With a clinical definition now provided however, there could be scope to suggest that we are getting closer to answering that question.  

We previously commented on the ACAS guidance in relation to dealing with long COVID, which you can read here.