MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th June, 2023) One in 30 Europeans had the coronavirus disease with mid- and long-term complications, known as "long COVID-19," World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge said on Tuesday, citing data from a US-based global health research center.
"According to estimates from our collaborating center, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at University of Washington and Seattle, nearly 36 million people across the WHO European region may have experienced 'long COVID' in the first three years of the pandemic. That's approximately one in 30 Europeans over the past three years," Kluge said at a briefing.
Kluge called for more research and vaccination, adding that unless comprehensive diagnostic and treatment methods for "long COVID-19" are developed, humanity would never truly recover from the pandemic.
Most people who get COVID-19 fully recover, but the WHO estimates that 10% to 20% of people who recover from the original infection experience various medium- and long-term effects.
