DNA Special: What are long-term effects of COVID-19?

People who have recovered from the Coronavirus infection and are now relaxed, have a reason to worry. According to a new research, such people will continue to suffer symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. What this really means is that even after being healthy, their lives will never be normal again.

According to a research conducted by the UK's Oxford University, six out of every 10 patients had breathing problems even after recovering from the COVID-19 infection. The research also revealed that 60 per cent people who have recovered from COVID have developed issues in their lungs, the kidneys of 29 per cent of the patients are affected, 26 per cent have developed heart issues and 10 per cent have issues with their liver.

As many as five out of every 10 patients experienced fatigue, while many had symptoms of anxiety and depression.

In UK, these symptoms were also visible after 2 to 3 months after being infected with the corona.

Experts in the UK have named these symptoms of the long-lasting coronavirus as ' Long Covid '.

The study conducted on 50 patients in the UK holds a lot of importance for the 67 lakh people of India who have been recovered from the virus. According to doctors, the coronavirus infection takes 14 days to recover. You may get discharged from the hospital after the infection recovers. But some will still be present in your body after being healthy.

The COVID-19 infection doesn't only break your body, but can also can break you and your family financially.

According to a report, 20 crore families in the country are not able to afford the costly treatment of coronavirus.

According to a survey, 80 per cent of Delhi's families spend less than Rs 25, 000 per month. That is, if there are five persons in a family in Delhi, the average expenditure on each person is Rs 5, 000. However, even if a person in the family has been infected by COVID-19, it can break a family's budget.

If you are admitted to an ICU, it can cost at least Rs 1.5 lakh for 10 days in a Delhi hospital. If ventilator is used in the ICU, the cost can go u to Rs 1.8 lakh. This is at least five-seven times more than the month-long expenditure of 80 per cent of Delhi's households. In private hospitals, the bill come to anywhere between Rs 7-10 lakh.

Coronavirus has made people financially, physically and mentally ill. Oxford University's research may have occurred in the UK, but the results are not confined to the UK. Similar symptoms are also visible in the patients of India. Today, we have prepared a report on similar people. Nowadays, a lot of people in the country are not following the rules of wearing masks and social distancing.

There are have been many instances when people have developed symptoms of the disease after 15 days or three months of recovering, several others are facing side-effects.

Owing to blood clots in the system and also lung scarring, the doctors said there were patients who succumbed while performing exercise, almost 3-4 weeks after their recovery. They also said that in some patients, even months after recovery, their oxygen saturation in the blood dropped drown after speaking for a few minutes. It was also said that the Doctors didn’t not yet have definitive answers for whether the scarring in lung tissue was reversible or not.  

The ICMR Director-General Dr Balram Bhargava on Tuesday, at a union health ministry briefing, urged people to continue wearing masks and follow health guidelines to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

"After an infection, antibodies develop in the body. In the case of coronavirus, it has been seen that the antibodies last for at least five months. The Covid-19 virus is still evolving and we are learning more about it. If antibodies decrease in the body of a person within five months, then there is a possibility of reinfection and a person may become re-infected with COVID-19," Bhargava said.

Hence, it is important to take precautions like wearing a mask, even after someone gets the disease once," he added.