{"id":14619,"date":"2020-11-02T11:26:14","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T11:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/?p=14619"},"modified":"2020-11-02T11:26:14","modified_gmt":"2020-11-02T11:26:14","slug":"long-term-symptoms-of-covid-19-really-concerning-says-who-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/2020\/11\/02\/long-term-symptoms-of-covid-19-really-concerning-says-who-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"Long-term symptoms of COVID-19 \u2018really concerning\u2019, says WHO chief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1170\" height=\"530\" src=\"http:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/image1170x530cropped.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14620\" srcset=\"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/image1170x530cropped.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/image1170x530cropped-510x231.jpg 510w, https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/image1170x530cropped-300x136.jpg 300w, https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/image1170x530cropped-768x348.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1170px) 100vw, 1170px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAlthough we\u2019re still learning about the virus, what\u2019s clear is that this is not just a virus that kills people. &nbsp;To a significant number of people, this virus poses a range of serious long-term effects,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/director-general\/speeches\/detail\/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---30-october-2020\">said<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.who.int\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WHO<\/a>&nbsp;chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking in Geneva on Friday during the UN agency\u2019s latest virtual press conference.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/index.html?creatorScreenName=UN_News_Centre&amp;dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1322250878833872897&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.un.org%2Fen%2Fstory%2F2020%2F10%2F1076562&amp;siteScreenName=UN_News_Centre&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&amp;width=550px\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The situation also underscores how herd immunity is \u201cmorally unconscionable and unfeasible\u201d, he added.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vast spectrum of fluctuating symptoms&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The WHO Director-General described the vast spectrum of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">COVID-19<\/a>&nbsp;symptoms that fluctuate over time as \u201creally concerning.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They range from fatigue, a cough and shortness of breath, to inflammation and injury of major organs \u2013 including the lungs and heart, and also neurological and psychologic effects.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Symptoms often overlap and can affect any system in the body.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is imperative that Governments recognize the long-term effects of COVID-19 and also ensure access to health services to all of these patients,\u201d he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis includes primary health care and when needed specialty care and rehabilitation.\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Seven months \u2018evaporated\u2019&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Three patients \u2013 an epidemiologist, a nurse and a 26-year-old software engineer \u2013 shared their experiences with COVID-19&nbsp;and its long-term consequences.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Professor Paul Garner, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in England, was \u201cfit and well\u201d when he fell ill with the disease in March. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For four months, he battled cyclical bouts of fatigue, headaches, mood swings and other symptoms, followed by three months of complete exhaustion.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen I overdid things, the illness would echo back, it would come back. And it was completely unpredictable,\u201d he said, speaking via videolink.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Professor Garner reported that his health has only begun to improve within the past two weeks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI never thought I would have seven months of my life wiped out by this virus,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has just gone, evaporated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Against herd immunity&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Stories like this underline how people facing the long-term effects of COVID-19 must be given the time and care they need to recover fully, according to the WHO chief.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt also reinforces to me just how morally unconscionable and unfeasible the so-called \u2018natural herd immunity\u2019 strategy is,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cnot only would it lead to millions more unnecessary deaths, it would also lead to a significant number of people facing a long road to full recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He explained that herd immunity is only possible when a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine has been distributed globally, and equitably.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd until we have a vaccine, Governments and people must do all that they can to suppress transmission, which is the best way to prevent these post-COVID long-term consequences,\u201d&nbsp;he stated.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cAlthough we\u2019re still learning about the virus, what\u2019s clear is that this is not just a virus that kills people. &nbsp;To a significant number of people, this virus poses a range of serious long-term effects,\u201d&nbsp;said&nbsp;WHO&nbsp;chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking in Geneva on Friday during the UN agency\u2019s latest virtual press conference.&nbsp; The situation also underscores [&#8230;]\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"tpgb_global_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[44,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid-19-news-updates","category-news"],"tpgb_featured_images":{"full":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/image1170x530cropped.jpg",1170,530,false],"tp-image-grid":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/image1170x530cropped.jpg",700,317,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/image1170x530cropped-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/image1170x530cropped-300x136.jpg",300,136,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/image1170x530cropped-768x348.jpg",768,348,true],"large":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/image1170x530cropped.jpg",1020,462,false],"default":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/plugins\/the-plus-addons-for-block-editor\/assets\/images\/tpgb-placeholder.jpg"},"tpgb_post_meta_info":{"get_date":"November 2, 2020","get_modified_date":"November 2, 2020","category_list":{"category":[{"term_id":44,"name":"Covid-19 News Updates","slug":"covid-19-news-updates","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":44,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":22,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":19,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":19,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":238,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":false,"post_format":false},"author_name":"Hope To Heal","author_url":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/author\/hope2233\/","author_email":"webmaster@hopetoheal.org.za","author_website":"","author_description":"Our mission is for women and children to live free from violence and abuse and to provide quality, compassionate, and nonjudgmental services in a manner that fosters self-respect and independence in persons experiencing domestic violence and child abuse and to lead the struggle to end domestic violence through advocacy and community education.","author_facebook":"","author_twitter":"","author_instagram":"","author_role":["administrator"],"author_firstname":"Hope To","author_lastname":"Heal Foundation","user_login":"Hope2233","author_avatar":"<img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00ba9733f71edb9653d7f34fee6719bfc21db4d30ee7e9a8d61ac758d1032f46?s=200&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00ba9733f71edb9653d7f34fee6719bfc21db4d30ee7e9a8d61ac758d1032f46?s=400&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-200 photo' height='200' width='200' decoding='async'\/>","author_avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00ba9733f71edb9653d7f34fee6719bfc21db4d30ee7e9a8d61ac758d1032f46?s=96&d=mm&r=g","comment_count":0,"post_likes":0,"post_views":0},"tpgb_post_category":{"category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/category\/covid-19-news-updates\/\" alt=\"Covid-19 News Updates\"  class=\"category-covid-19-news-updates\">Covid-19 News Updates<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/category\/news\/\" alt=\"News\"  class=\"category-news\">News<\/a> "},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14621,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14619\/revisions\/14621"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}