Risk of long Covid halved after Omicron infection

Research suggests the latest dominant strain poses a lower risk of lingering illness than Delta does

A five-year-old girl suffering from COVID-19 long term side effects, sits in a treatment room of the children's hospital Universitaets-Kinderklinik, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, iShow more

A leading researcher says the Omicron variant could halve the risk of suffering from so-called long Covid when compared with the Delta strain.

The study found the odds of experiencing long Covid symptoms were at least 20 per cent and as much as 50 per cent lower after the onset of Omicron as the dominant variant versus the Delta period, depending on age and time since vaccination.

A King’s College London team led by Dr Claire Steves used data from the Zoe Covid Symptom study.

“The Omicron variant appears substantially less likely to cause long Covid than previous variants but still one in 23 people who catch Covid-19 go on to have symptoms for more than four weeks," she said. “Given the numbers of people affected it’s important that we continue to support them at work, at home and within the NHS.”

The analysis showed that 4.4 per cent of Omicron cases were long Covid, compared to 10.8 per cent of Delta cases.

However, the absolute number of people who had long Covid was higher in the Omicron period because of the vast numbers infected with the variant from December 2021 to February.

The Office for National Statistics estimates the number of people with long Covid actually increased from 1.3 million in January to two million as of May 1.

Long Covid is defined by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines as having new or ongoing symptoms four weeks or more after the start of the disease.

Symptoms can include fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of concentration and joint pain.

As well as affecting day-to-day activities, for some people the condition can be severely limiting.

The study identified 56,003 UK adults who tested positive between December 20 last year and March 9, when Omicron was the dominant strain.

Researchers compared these to 41,361 cases first testing positive between June 1 and November 27 last year, when the Delta was the dominant variant.

The analysis is published in a letter to medical journal The Lancet.