Half of Covid-19 survivors exhibit one symptom after two years of 1st infection

More than half of people hospitalized with COVID-19 still have at least one symptom two years after they were first infected with the SARS- CoV-2 virus, according to the longest follow-up study published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal.

The research followed 1,192 participants in China infected with SARS- CoV-2 during the first phase of the pandemic in 2020.

While physical and mental health generally improved over time, the study suggests that COVID-19 patients still tend to have poorer health and quality of life than the general population.

This is especially the case for participants with long COVID, who typically still have at least one symptom including fatigue, shortness of breath, and sleep difficulties two years after initially falling ill, the researchers said.