An estimated 56,000 people in the North East were living with Long Covid in the four-week period ending 6 March 2021, according to new ONS figures published this week. There are a total of 1.1 million people living with the condition across the UK.
It is estimated that 2.16% of people in the region were living with Long Covid. That is compared to the national average of 1.69% people with the condition. The North East has the highest rate of Long Covid cases out of the English regions with one in 46 people living with the condition.
Across the UK, 674,000 people said that Long Covid symptoms were adversely affecting their day-to-day activities, while 196,000 reported that their ability to undertake their day-to-day activities had been limited a lot.
The analysis found that health and social care workers experienced the highest prevalence rates of self-reported Long Covid. Over one in 28 (3.6%) of those working in health care had Long Covid, along with almost one in 32 (3.1%) of those working in social care. Prevalence rates of self-reported Long Covid were also higher in those aged 35 to 69 years, females and those living in the most deprived areas.
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Coronavirus is calling on the government to set up a compensation scheme for key workers living with Long Covid who have been unable to return to work, including those working in health and social care. The cross-party group is also calling on the government to end the current ‘postcode lottery’ of support for Long Covid sufferers and ensure all those who need long-term treatment can access it.
Tracy Brabin MP (Batley and Spen, Yorkshire) who is a member of the APPG on Coronavirus, commented:
“This data reveals the enormous impact Long Covid is having on our region and the urgent need for the government to step up and support those affected in Yorkshire and across the country.
“We are calling on the government to give formal guidance to employers on Long Covid so that workers with the disease are treated fairly.
“We also want to see a compensation scheme set up for key workers with Long Covid. Frontline workers have been the heroes of the pandemic, they must not be abandoned in their time of need.”
“Mani Careless was a fit, healthy 11-year-old boy who loved playing rugby and football.
So there was little cause for alarm when in September last year he came down with what looked like a common cold.
But five months later the North Seaton schoolboy is still suffering the ‘excruciating’ effects of what doctors now believe to be ‘Long Covid’.”
