People experiencing the longer-term effects of long Covid to benefit from research projects to help better understand the causes, symptoms and treatment.

The Department of Health and Social Care has said that the funding will be given to four studies to identify the causes of long Covid and effective therapies to treat people who experience chronic symptoms of the disease.

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.

It is reported that approximately one in 10 people with coronavirus continue to experience symptoms and impaired quality of life beyond 12 weeks.

Health 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 four ambitious projects to do just that.”

The projects to receive funding are: REACT long COVID (REACT-LC); The TLC Study; University College London; and The CLoCk Study