An estimated 2 million people living in private households in the UK (3.1% of the population) were experiencing self-reported long COVID as of 1 May 2022.
Of people with self-reported long COVID, 442,000 (22%) first had COVID-19 less than 12 weeks previously, 1.4 million people (72%) at least 12 weeks previously, 826,000 (42%) at least one year previously and 376,000 (19%) at least two years previously.
Of people with self-reported long COVID, 593,000 (30%) first had COVID-19 before Alpha became the main variant; this figure was 239,000 (12%) in the Alpha period, 427,000 (21%) in the Delta period, and 619,000 (31%) in the Omicron period.
Long COVID symptoms adversely affected the day-to-day activities of 1.4 million people (71% of those with self-reported long COVID), with 398,000 (20%) reporting that their ability to go about their day-to-day activities had been “limited a lot”.
