<
https://thesicktimes.org/2026/04/14/long-covid-is-significantly-underreported-across-the-globe/>
"Sourya Sidhhartha Dash, who is 42 and lives in Mumbai, India, was dismissed by
many doctors when he began looking for Long COVID care in 2021. His persistent
fatigue and spikes in heart rate were repeatedly written off as anxiety,
deconditioning, or nothing at all.
Dash was undeterred. He’d read plenty of news stories and studies about Long
COVID and had connected online with other people who’d developed the disease.
He knew what he had. Still, it took almost 18 months of “relentless”
self-advocacy to find a doctor who took his concerns seriously. “A lot of
effort has gone into my journey,” he said.
Dash is lucky, relatively speaking. He got a diagnosis eventually, a milestone
never reached by some of the 400 million other people around the world
estimated to have been affected by Long COVID as of 2024. Research suggests
many of those millions are slipping through the cracks. A 2025 study of 1.8
million London residents found that just 0.33% had a Long COVID diagnosis in
their primary care records, despite previous government estimates that around
3% of the U.K. population has Long COVID.
And that’s in a wealthy country with a national health system. In low- and
middle-income countries (LMICs), where Long COVID takes a disproportionately
severe toll but has been called a “hidden public health crisis,” the problem
seems to be even worse. Limited medical and public health resources, low
awareness among providers, and socioeconomic barriers cause many Long COVID
cases to go unreported in these settings, suggested a 2026 research review.
Globally, 36% of people with confirmed COVID-19 cases have been affected by
Long COVID, a 2025 paper estimated. But uncertainty hides behind that number.
In Africa, for example, it’s not even possible to confidently estimate Long
COVID’s prevalence because so few studies have taken place there, the authors
wrote.
“Forget about 2020. We are in 2026 and I personally know there are a lot of
people who are suffering,” Dash said. “Even today in India,” he continued,
“doctors do not recognize or want to talk about Long COVID.”"
Via Violet Blue’s
Threat Model - Covid: April 16, 2026
https://www.patreon.com/posts/covid-april-16-155754741
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
