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Health

Everything we know about long covid - including how to reduce the risk

Some people have been living with long covid for five years, but we are still just starting to learn about its exact causes and how best to treat the condition

By Michael Marshall

1 January 2025

Someone with long covid having rehabilitation at the Vall d'Hebron hospital in Barcelona, Spain, in June 2020

People with long covid are advised to pace themselves when it comes to being physically active

REUTERS/Nacho Doce

For many people, the covid-19 pandemic feels like a thing of the past. But for those with long covid, it is far from over. Five years on from when covid-19 turned up, those with lingering symptoms still can’t live their lives as they did before.

The emergence of long covid in the first few months of the pandemic sparked an explosion of research into why some people develop persistent symptoms after being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Half a decade…

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