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The long haul of long Covid

The challenge for scientists globally in finding a treatment for long Covid.

Three years after the official declaration of a pandemic, 65 million people - one in 10 who had Covid-19 - still have symptoms. Some are so ill they are yet to return to work.

The Economist’s health editor, Natasha Loder, examines the science behind long Covid and hears about the challenges as researchers try to unravel the cause behind a condition associated with around 200 symptoms.

Natasha gains insights about the disease from Dr Walter Koroshetz, co-director of the long Covid Recover study in the United States, pulmonologist Dr Lancelot Pinto in Mumbai, India, and long Covid expert Dr Waasila Jassat in Johannesburg, South Africa.

She also meets Dr Emma Wall at London’s Francis Crick Institute to hear about the UK’s long Covid drug trial and Dr Maria Teresa Ferretti, from the Women’s Brain Project, discusses why women are twice as likely to get long Covid than men.

(Photo: Ghenya Grondin, who first was sick with Covid-19 in March 2020 and has had long Covid ever since. Crredit: Brian Snyder/Reuters)

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27 minutes

Last on

Sun 12 Mar 2023 05:32GMT

Broadcasts

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  • Sun 12 Mar 2023 05:32GMT