IMHE Modeling Shows 307 Percent Increase in Long COVID Cases From 2020 to 2021

There was a 307 percent increase in new long COVID cases identified between 2020 and 2021, according to modeling the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IMHE) conducted for the World Health Organization (WHO) and Europe.

The modeling showed that in the first two years of the pandemic, at least 17 million individuals across the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region may have experienced long COVID.

IMHE further estimated that nearly 145 million people worldwide experienced any of the three symptom clusters of long COVID during the first two years of the pandemic: fatigue with bodily pain and mood swings, cognitive problems and shortness of breath.

According to WHO criteria, people are considered to have long COVID when they have symptom duration of at least three months.

As a result of these findings, the WHO is calling on governments and health partners to collaborate to find solutions.