30% COVID-19 survivors may suffer 'irreversible' lung damage: Report

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30% COVID-19 survivors may suffer 'irreversible' lung damage: Report

Other deadly coronaviruses such as SARS and MERS are already known to cause "persistent" damage to the lungs

Tuesday June 23, 2020 6:30 PM, IANS

London: If you are a corona survivor, read this carefully. A leaked guidance from the UK National Health Service (NHS) has warned that up to 30 per cent of Covid-19 survivors may suffer long-term lung damage which is "irreversible" along with "psychological impairments".

The NHS guidance, reported first by The Telegraph on Tuesday, has been sent to primary care and community services, which includes doctors and district nurses.

Other deadly coronaviruses such as SARS and MERS are already known to cause "persistent" damage to the lungs.

The leaked NHS guidance read: "Approximately 30 per cent of survivors of the global SARS outbreak caused by SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV experienced persistent physiological impairment and abnormal radiology consistent with fibrotic lung disease."

'It is envisaged that pulmonary fibrosis [lung damage and scarring] is likely to be an important sequela/condition which is the consequence of Covid-19," it said.

However, the evidence on Covid-19 is murky as scientists spotted the novel coronavirus only six month ago in the Chinese city of Wuhan, reports Daily Mail.

The NHS guidance said that Covid-19 survivors could also face chronic fatigue syndrome.

"The guidance also reportedly warned that one in seven patients who fought for their lives in intensive care may be struck down with lasting brain damage," according to The Daily Mail.

Seventy per cent of them will suffer delirium which will lead to "established cognitive impairment" in one in five cases.

Other studies in the recent past have shown that SARS-CoV-2 virus can attack organs, such as the heart, liver, kidneys and blood vessels.

On Tuesday, India recorded 14,933 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total tally to 4,40,215.

According to the Health Ministry data, 1,78,014 cases are currently active and 2,48,189 patients have recovered.

The number of patients recovering from COVID-19 continues to rise. The recovery rate has further improved to almost 56.37 per cent among COVID-19 patients.

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