Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1302895
LAURA CALLEJA Andrea (last name withheld), 44, tested positive for COVID-19 on 4 April, but despite having supposedly recovered, with two negative tests under her belt, six months on she is still suffering the long-term effects of the virus. "Until today, I'm still experiencing shortness of breath – that has never gone away. I'm also suffering from fa- tigue, and muscle pain," she said, speak- ing to MaltaToday. The aftermath of COVID-19 has put a major spoke in Andrea's wheel, who be- fore contracting the virus, had been an active person. The mother of two said she was dis- appointed with the reaction from the health authorities and their failure to make the public aware of the long-last- ing effects of the virus. "We can't carry on the way the way we are, acting as if all is okay… the health authorities must come forward, and warn people, or else the situation will only continue to spiral out of control, and people will pay the price." The UK's National Institute for Health Research recently coined the term "long COVID" in a report on people living with the long-term ramifications of COVID-19, finding an ongoing COVID effect among them, and that that num- ber was likely to increase in the coming months. According to the report, the symptoms include permanent organ damage to the lungs and heart, post-intensive-care syndrome, post-viral fatigue syndrome and continuing COVID-19 symptoms. Malta is currently experiencing an ex- ponential increase in COVID-19 cases. According to the health authorities, they hail mainly from family and work clusters – however, at least 30% are now sporadic, which means they are not linked to any known clusters within the community. Speaking to MaltaToday, respiratory physician Dr Josef Micallef said that up to 90% of hospitalized COVID-19 pa- tients that are discharged with a nega- tive swab test continue to experience either fatigue, lack of concentration, cough, breathlessness, headache and or muscle aches for several weeks and or months. "We also observe a significant num- ber of patients who survive intensive care and who continue to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder after this nasty experience," Micallef said while speaking to this paper on the long-last- ing effects of COVID-19. Micallef referenced SARS, in layman's terms referred to as the "cousin" of COVID-19. "Many patients who have recovered from the SARS outbreak in 2003 have gone on to develop chronic fatigue syndrome, characterized by ex- treme fatigue that worsens with physical or mental activity but doesn't improve with rest. The same may be true for peo- ple who have contracted COVID-19," he said. Micallef said that COVID-19 is still a relatively new virus with several re- ports of complications, which may af- fect many vital organs. "The extent and severity of these complications are still under investigation as joint worldwide efforts are being made to gather data and publish them." However, Micallef said that in severe COVID-19 cases, the lung appears to be the main target organ of this virus. In many patients, CT scans have 4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 OCTOBER 2020 NEWS Is this scary? After recovery, the lingering effect of COVID-19 MATTHEW AGIUS MALTA'S health authorities have reported 115 new cases of COVID-19 on the island yester- day, with the daily number of new cases remaining in the tri- ple-figure region for the second week running. The 115 positives were re- corded from the 3,144 swab tests carried out in the past 24 hours, according to the Minis- try for Health. 50 people have now died in Malta as a result of the pan- demic. The latest victim is a 77 year-old man, who died of the disease last night. 39 new recoveries were also recorded. In total, Malta has recorded 5,373 cases of COV- ID-19 since the pandemic be- gan. The new cases are still being investigated, said the authori- ties in a Facebook post. From yesterday's cases, 43 were family members of pre- viously known cases, 12 were workplace transmissions, four were direct contacts with oth- er positive cases, one case was contracted after a social gath- ering with other positive cases, three cases were from Paceville and four were imported. On Friday, a 77-year-old man died of COVID-19, the 50th death from the disease since the pandemic started. The man, who was a resident at a care home, had been found to have contracted the disease on October 13. He was being treated at the care home, said the ministry in a statement. The health authorities add- ed that the man suffered from other chronic diseases. The ministry expressed its condolences to the man's fami- ly and appealed to the public to continue to follow the Health Department's advice regarding hand-washing, the wearing of masks and social distancing. Care home patient, 77, dies as COVID cases increase by 115