Covid-19, which emerged in Wuhan, China in 2019 and spread all over the world in a few days, caused the death of approximately 6.5 million people and infected more than 600 million people worldwide. Thanks to the measures taken and widespread vaccination campaigns, the forgotten epidemic is not even an agenda item for most countries.

Since WHO declared an international emergency in 2020, the availability of vaccines and treatments for the virus has helped reduce the number of deaths and hospitalizations.

Reported deaths from Covid-19 this month hit the lowest level since March 2020.

Persistent Danger Coronavirus

The lowest level of death from coronavirus since March 2020 does not mean that the virus has not yet completely disappeared from our lives.

WHO Director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gave a serious warning to the world in a special statement to The Guardian.

WHO estimates that between 10 percent and 20 percent of Covid-19 survivors experience medium- and long-term symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath and cognitive dysfunction.

The most authoritative name of the World Health Organization urged countries to initiate an "immediate" and "continuous" action plan, noting that the prolonged Covid has devastated the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of people and damaged health systems and economies.

Speaking for the Guardian, the WHO Director said, “As the pandemic is significantly overcome due to the launch of many life-saving tools and we can say that there is light at the end of the tunnel, the impact of long-term work Covid requires urgent and continuous action on a very serious and equal scale in all countries.”

Risk Doubled for Women

It is known that women are twice as likely to experience long-term Covid as men, and the risk increases significantly for serious infections that require hospitalization.

One in three women and one in five men are likely to develop long-term Covid.

Covid Symptoms Expand

According to WHO, delayed clinical care in patients with long-term Covid affects not only their quality of life but also the duration of symptoms.

Asked if Covid could persist for many years, Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said: 'I think there will be people who will be affected for life, but it's hard to know how widespread it will be. It's too soon to tell, but there are some scary stories of people whose lives have been ruined by post-Covid syndrome.'