Lawmaker-cum-unionist Leong Sun Iok has submitted a written interpellation recently urging the government to pay attention to residents’ health condition and introduce healthcare programmes to cope with the potentially negative impact of ‘long COVID’ on residents.
According to the US-based organisation Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), long COVID is defined as a chronic condition that occurs after COVID-19 infection and is present for at least 3 months. Long COVID includes a wide range of symptoms or conditions that may improve, worsen, or be ongoing for at least 3 months.
Leong pointed out that according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 10 to 20 percent of people who recovered from COVID-19 are still suffering from various medium-to-long-term conditions.
Leong also pointed out that according to the WHO, long COVID may affect a person’s ability to perform daily activities, including fatigue, respiratory difficulties and cognitive impairment, adding that young children suffering from long COVID will normally have respiratory symptoms, and persistent cough is even more likely to occur.
Leong underlined that apart from COVID-19, other viruses such as influenza and mycoplasma will cause patients to have “overlapping infections”, making their symptoms more serious and taking a longer time to recover.
Therefore, Leong reminded members of the public, especially parents of young children, to step up precautionary measures and take good personal protection, and also asked the government to follow up on residents’ health conditions in general.
This image downloaded from the US-based company Cayman Chemical shows the impacts of long COVID.
