An updated Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance for certifying deaths due to coronavirus disease has revealed that emerging evidence suggests that Covid virus can have long-lasting effects on almost every organ and organ system of the body weeks, months, and possibly years after infection.

Clinical symptoms and Covid-19 consequences in the acute phase, including death, have been recorded in varied degrees. However, those who survive the acute stage of the illness may still experience long-term consequences, often known as "long Covid".

According to the updated CDC recommendations, documented severe post-Covid disorders now include complications of cardiovascular, neurological, pulmonary, endocrine, hematological, renal, and gastrointestinal systems along with death.

Recent studies from the University of Waterloo in Canada suggest that long Covid has also been linked to lower brain oxygen levels, decreased performance on cognitive tests, and increased psychiatric symptoms like depression and anxiety.

Pre-existing chronic illnesses, particularly those that cause a reduction in lung capacities, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma, might occasionally make it more challenging to recover from COVID. The CDC advice stated that while these medical conditions do not directly cause Covid-19, they can raise the risk of acquiring a respiratory infection and dying from it.

A most recent assessment of 200 Covid-19 studies, published in the Journal Nature Reviews Microbiology, estimated that at least 65 million people have long Covid. The US-based researchers state that 10% of the more than 651 million Covid-19 instances reported globally have Long Covid.

 (Source:  https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/health/covid-virus-can-have-lasting-effects-on-nearly-every-organ-for-years-cdc-485714)