UK announces £18.5 million fund to tackle long COVID through research
People experiencing the longer-term effects of long COVID will benefit from £18.5 million to fund research projects to help better understand the causes, symptoms and treatment of the condition.
The funding will be given to 4 studies to identify the causes of long COVID and effective therapies to treat people who experience chronic symptoms of the disease.
The projects were chosen following a UK-wide call to find ambitious and comprehensive research programmes to help address the physical and mental health effects of COVID-19 in those experiencing longer-term symptoms but who do not require admittance into hospital.
Long COVID can present with clusters of symptoms that are often overlapping and/or fluctuating. A systematic review has highlighted 55 different long-term effects but common symptoms of long COVID include breathlessness, headaches, cough, fatigue and cognitive impairment or ‘brain fog’. There is also emerging evidence that some people experience organ damage.
Approximately 1 in 10 people with COVID-19 continue to experience symptoms and impaired quality of life beyond 12 weeks (‘long COVID’).
Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock said:
"I am acutely aware of the lasting and debilitating impact long COVID can have on people of all ages, irrespective of the extent of the initial symptoms.
"Fatigue, headaches and breathlessness can affect people for months after their COVID-19 infection regardless of whether they required hospital admission initially.
"In order to effectively help these individuals we need to better understand long COVID and identify therapeutics that can help recovery. This funding will kick-start 4 ambitious projects to do just that."
Amy, 27, has been experiencing ongoing breathing problems after first contracting COVID-19 3 months ago. She said:
"I expected to be fully recovered within 2 weeks, but I actually isolated for 3 weeks because I just didn’t feel comfortable going out. I was still really poorly.
"At my age, I didn’t expect to suffer symptoms for more than just a few days. Feeling that poorly for that long, hearing all the horror stories and things, I wondered if I would actually go back to normal.
"I exercise a lot and it was really scary thinking that I might not actually get back to that again. It’s quite shocking to me actually that 3 months on I’m still not really myself."
Chief Medical Officer for England and Head of the NIHR, Professor Chris Whitty said:
"Good research is absolutely pivotal in understanding, diagnosing and then treating any illness, to ease symptoms and ultimately improve lives.
"This research, jointly funded through the NIHR and UKRI, will increase our knowledge of how and why the virus causes some people to suffer long-term effects following a COVID-19 infection – and will be an important tool in developing more effective treatments for patients."
Health Minister, Lord Bethell said:
"The UK is at the forefront of scientific research and innovation when it comes to the treatment of COVID-19. This work is vital in helping us to build on our knowledge and improve the treatment of the longer-term impacts of the virus.
"This research will make the best use of available evidence to help us identify the causes, the consequences and most importantly the best treatments to help people recover from COVID-19 in the long term."