People in the research study had sleeping difficulties and muscle weakness or fatigue were the most common symptoms
ACCORDING to a study published by Lancet medical journal in Wuhan, China, more than three-quarters of Covid-19 patients who were hospitalised still suffered from symptoms six months later.
From the 1,733 patients who participated in the Covid-19 research from Jinyintan Hospital between January and May of 2020, it found that people had sleeping difficulties and that muscle weakness or fatigue were the most common symptoms.
Lead author Bin Cao of the National Centre for Respiratory Medicine said the research showed a need to continue to monitor and care for patients once they have been discharged from hospital, and more so, those who had severe infections.
“Because Covid-19 is such a new disease, we are only beginning to understand some of its long-term effects on patients’ health,” said Professor Cao.
The research included physical examinations and laboratory tests in June and September, and found 76% of patients involved in the follow-up still had symptoms.
While 26% had sleeping issues, 63% confirmed muscle weakness or fatigue.
“Patients have to be seen over a period of six months or longer due to complications of contracting the virus,” global health adviser Oksana Pyzik told Al Jazeera.
“That means we’re going to have even less capacity, less health-care workforce available for treating these individuals.
“That will have knock-on consequences for caring for all sorts of chronic conditions,” she said.
Meanwhile, China has reported an outbreak of Covid-19 cases, with various cities tightening up their anti-epidemic measures.
Shijiazhuang, Xingtai City, Shanghai and Beijing have all reintroduced lockdown and banned gatherings, not allowing the use of main railway stations and launched citywide testing programmes.
– African News Agency (ANA)
