Self-reported coronavirus (COVID-19) infections and associated symptoms, England and Scotland: November 2023 to … – Office for National Statistics

The Winter Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Study (Winter CIS) asked participants if they would describe themselves as currently having long COVID (defined as experiencing symptoms more than four weeks after a coronavirus (COVID-19) infection, that are not explained by something else). Therefore, estimates in this article relate to self-reported long COVID, as experienced by study participants, rather than clinically diagnosed ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 or post-COVID-19 syndrome.

An estimated 3.3% (95% confidence interval: 3.1 to 3.5%) of individuals in England and Scotland were experiencing self-reported long COVID during wave 4 (6 February to 7 March 2024). This is slightly higher than the estimated percentage reported at the end of the UK Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey (CIS) in March 2023 (2.9%, 95% confidence interval: 2.8 to 3.0%). As the Winter CIS contains a sub-sample of CIS participants, the figures reported here may not be directly comparable with those reported previously in CIS (see Section 8: Data sources and quality for more details).

Respondents who self-reported currently having long COVID were asked to provide a date for the following question, "When did you first experience symptoms of long COVID?". Of those who self-reported long COVID and provided a date, 87.3% had experienced symptoms at least 12 weeks previously, 71.1% one year previously, 51.3% at least two years previously and 30.6% at least three years previously during wave 4 (ending 7 March 2024).

The duration of long COVID symptoms within the Winter CIS has been calculated from a self-reported date, while within the CIS the duration was calculated from the first suspected coronavirus infection. Figures are not directly comparable. The question around onset of long COVID symptoms is asked only of those who currently self-reported having long COVID, therefore figures do not represent time to recovery. Figures representing more recent onset of long COVID may also include those with long-lasting COVID-19 infection who have not yet had time to recover.

The characteristics of those most likely to have self-reported long COVID followed a similar trend to that previously reported at the end of CIS in March 2023. As a proportion of the England and Scotland population during wave 4 in the Winter CIS, the prevalence of self-reported long COVID was greatest in people aged 45 to 64 years, in females (3.6% compared with 3.0% in males), in those who were not working and not looking for work (9.1%) and highest in the North West (3.8%) and the North East (3.6%) regions of England.

Further breakdowns showing Scotland and England separately, ethnic group and Index of Multiple Deprivation can be found in the datasets accompanying this release.

Participants were asked whether long COVID reduced their ability to carry out day-to-day activities compared with the time before having COVID-19, with options of "Yes a lot", "Yes a little" or "Not at all". During wave 4 (ending 7 March 2024), long COVID symptoms adversely impacted the day-to-day activities for 74.7% of those with self-reported long COVID, with 19.2% reporting that their ability to undertake day-to-day activities have been "limited a lot". In addition, 56.4% reported that symptoms worsen following "mental and/or physical effort".

The most common symptom reported as part of an individual's experience of long COVID was weakness or tiredness (54.0%) followed by shortness of breath (43.7%), difficulty concentrating (39.4%) and muscle ache (36.7%). The four most common symptoms reported in the Winter CIS were the same as those in the CIS, however, the percentages for each symptom were lower in this study. Because of an expansion in the list of possible symptoms presented to participants to select, we cannot infer that changes in the percentage reporting each symptom represent a change in the impact of the disease.

In every wave, those who self-report long COVID of any duration (who are aged 16 to 64 years and are not in education) are less likely to be employed or self-employed compared with those who have not reported long COVID (see Table 13 in supporting data). During wave 4 (ending 7 March 2024) the odds of a participant who self-reported long COVID being employed or self-employed was 19.5% (odds ratio 0.81, 95% confidence interval: 0.73 to 0.89) lower than those who did not report long COVID.

This analysis controls for other characteristics that impact employment status (see Section 8: Data sources and quality), but often we do not know the employment status prior to the participant developing long COVID. We therefore cannot determine if participants with long COVID were more likely to leave the paid labour market after developing long COVID or if those already out of the paid labour market were more likely to develop long COVID.

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Self-reported coronavirus (COVID-19) infections and associated symptoms, England and Scotland: November 2023 to ... - Office for National Statistics