Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has laid bare confronting facts on the long-term effects a COVID-19 infection can have.
The term 'long COVID' is commonly used to describe signs and symptoms that continue or develop after someone's contracted the virus. People who experience this are sometimes called 'long-haulers'.
A new study by the University of Oxford and the UK National Institute for Health Research found more than one in three people with COVID-19 will experience at least one symptom of long COVID. Dr Bloomfield discussed the study's findings during Thursday's COVID-19 update.
"This study included more than 270,000 people recovering there. They found 37 percent of patients had at least one long COVID symptom diagnosed three to six months after infection. The most common symptoms were breathing problems, abdominal symptoms, fatigue, pain, and anxiety or depression," he says.
"Although people who get flu or other viral illnesses can have prolonged post-viral symptoms, this study found the symptoms linked to COVID were 50 percent more common in those who had COVID compared to those who had the flu."
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the impact a COVID-19 infection can continue to have even after someone is no longer infectious is "devastating".
"The research here is incredibly important, making sure that our health system knows how to continue to support those individuals, but also just working hard to prevent too many other people from experiencing the potential effects of long COVID."
According to the study, the age, sex, and severity of infection affected the likelihood of long-COVID symptoms. These were more frequent in those who were hospitalised and were slightly more common in women.
These factors also influenced which symptoms people were most likely to experience. For example, older people and men had more breathing difficulties and cognitive problems, whereas young people and women had more headaches, abdominal symptoms, and anxiety or depression.
The study also looked at the same symptoms in people recovering from influenza. While long COVID symptoms did occur after this, they were 1.5 times more common after COVID-19.
