1. Main points
An estimated 2.0 million people living in private households in the UK (3.0% of the population) were experiencing self-reported long COVID (symptoms continuing for more than four weeks after the first suspected coronavirus (COVID-19) infection that were not explained by something else) as of 4 June 2022 (see Figure 1).
Of people with self-reported long COVID, 405,000 (21%) first had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 less than 12 weeks previously, 1.4 million people (74%) at least 12 weeks previously, 807,000 (41%) at least one year previously and 403,000 (21%) at least two years previously.
Of people with self-reported long COVID, 570,000 (29%) first had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 before Alpha became the main variant; this figure was 237,000 (12%) in the Alpha period, 394,000 (20%) in the Delta period, and 642,000 (33%) in the Omicron period.
Long COVID symptoms adversely affected the day-to-day activities of 1.4 million people (72% of those with self-reported long COVID), with 409,000 (21%) reporting that their ability to undertake their day-to-day activities had been "limited a lot".
Fatigue continued to be the most common symptom reported as part of individuals' experience of long COVID (56% of those with self-reported long COVID), followed by shortness of breath (31%), loss of smell (22%), and muscle ache (21%).
As a proportion of the UK population, the prevalence of self-reported long COVID was greatest in people aged 35 to 69 years, females, people living in more deprived areas, those working in social care, health care, or teaching and education, and those with another activity-limiting health condition or disability.
The estimates presented in this analysis relate to self-reported long COVID, as experienced by study participants who responded to a representative survey, rather than clinically diagnosed ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 or post-COVID-19 syndrome in the full population.
Figure 1: 2.0 million people were experiencing self-reported long COVID as of 4 June 2022
Estimated number of people living in private households with self-reported long COVID of any duration, UK: four-week periods ending 2 May 2021 to 4 June 2022
Source: Office for National Statistics –Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey (CIS)
Notes:
- Estimates relate to self-reported long COVID, as experienced by study participants, rather than clinically diagnosed ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 or post COVID-19 syndrome. Study participants were asked to respond to the following question: "Would you describe yourself as having 'long COVID', that is, you are still experiencing symptoms more than 4 weeks after you first had COVID-19, that are not explained by something else?"
- Estimates include people living in private households, and do not include those in communal establishments such as halls of residence, prisons, schools, hospitals, or care homes.
- Estimates for the four-week period 6 February 2021 to 6 March 2021 are also available.
Download this chart Figure 1: 2.0 million people were experiencing self-reported long COVID as of 4 June 2022
Image .csv .xlsIf you are worried about new or ongoing symptoms four or more weeks after having COVID-19, there are resources available to help. The NHS webpage on the long-term effects of coronavirus and the NHS Your COVID Recovery website have information that can help you to understand what has happened and what you might expect as part of your recovery. The time it takes to recover from COVID-19 is different for everyone. The length of your recovery is not necessarily related to the severity of your initial illness or whether you were in hospital.
This is analysis of new, recently collected data. Our understanding of it and its quality will improve over time. Long COVID is an emerging phenomenon that is not yet fully understood. These are Experimental Statistics, which are statistics that are in the testing phase and not yet fully developed.
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3. Measuring the data
This analysis was based on 247,557 responses to our Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey (CIS) collected over the four-week period ending 4 June 2022, weighted to represent people aged two years and over living in private households in the UK. Self-reported long COVID was defined as symptoms persisting for more than four weeks after the first suspected COVID-19 infection that were not explained by something else. Parents and carers answered the survey questions on behalf of children aged under 12 years.
Date of first (suspected) COVID-19 infection was taken to be the earliest of:
the date of first positive test for COVID-19 during study follow-up
the date of first self-reported positive test for COVID-19 outside of study follow-up
the date of first suspected COVID-19 infection, as reported by the participant
Those with an unknown date of first (suspected) COVID-19 infection are in the estimates for "any duration" but not in duration specific estimates.
Of the 8,273 participants who described themselves as having long COVID in the latest four-week period, 6,004 (73%) had previously ever received a positive test (swabs for COVID-19 infection or blood test for COVID-19 antibodies), either during CIS follow-up visits, or outside of the study. The remaining 2,269 (27%) had never received or reported a positive COVID-19 test. This percentage was highest in participants who first had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 at least two years previously (32%), which was before the introduction of national testing programmes.
The reported breakdowns by variant period represent the percentage of people with self-reported long COVID in the current four-week reference period who were first infected (or suspected they were infected) during each of the variant periods. The breakdowns do not provide estimates of the likelihood of developing long COVID if infected with each variant. Estimates of the likelihood of developing long COVID symptoms after first infection compatible with the Delta or Omicron variants are provided in our Self-reported long COVID after infection with the Omicron variant in the UK release.
The strengths and limitations of this analysis are described in a previous Prevalence of ongoing symptoms following coronavirus infection bulletin. The survey questions relating to self-reported long COVID can be found in Section F of the enrolment and Section D of the follow-up CIS questionnaires. See Tables 2a to 2f of the technical dataset accompanying the latest Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey statistical bulletin for survey response rates for survey response rates.
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