More studies required to understand ‘long COVID’ impact: Vandana Chavan

To support her call for more studies on the long-term impact of the disease, Chavan cited Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) data to highlight that cases of heart conditions and attacks in Mumbai rose by nearly 25 per cent in 2022 from the pre-pandemic year of 2017

There should be more studies to understand the impact of ‘long COVID’ on people’s health, otherwise this might end up becoming a “parallel pandemic”, Rajya Sabha MP Vandana Chavan said on Wednesday. Raising the issue in a special mention in the House, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader said considering the huge drop in the daily number of COVID-19 cases, the worst seems to be over. However, it appears, there is ample evidence of a variety of side effects that are emerging among the infected population, she said.

Chavan said even after recovering, some people continued to experience symptoms in “what has come to be known as ‘long COVID’. These include persistent fatigue, headache, brain fog and shortness of breath, she said.

This, she claimed, has been corroborated by Oxford University research.

Many people also seem to have acquired lasting medical conditions, including being diagnosed with diabetes and heart problems, the MP said.

To support her call for more studies on the long-term impact of the disease, Chavan cited Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) data to highlight that cases of heart conditions and attacks in Mumbai rose by nearly 25 per cent in 2022 from the pre-pandemic year of 2017.

The MP said that COVID-19 also impacted the mental health of patients.

“In light of all this evidence, more studies must be conducted to understand the long-term impact of COVID-19 on the human body, otherwise this might end up becoming a parallel pandemic itself,” she said and asked the government to look into the matter at the earliest.