80 , 000 living with long Covid

Sturgeon challenged over response to condition

NICOLA Sturgeon has been challenged to do more to help sufferers of long Covid as it was revealed almost 80,000 Scots may have the condition.

The Office for National Statistics said 79,000 patients had reported suffering from long Covid after contracting the virus.

Of those, 61,000 are said to have been suffering from symptoms – extreme tiredness, chest pains and shortness of breath as well as depression, diarrhoea and nausea – for more than 12 weeks, while 31,000 have been living with them for more than a year.

While the Scottish Government published a long Covid plan, Scots Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton claimed sufferers would receive better treatment in England.

He challenged Sturgeon on the issue at First Minister’s Questions, as he accused Health Secretary Humza Yousaf of refusing to meet Long Covid Scotland campaigners.

Cole-Hamilton said: “The muchdelayed long Covid plan should have been transformative but I have spoken with a constituent who suffers from long Covid. He was, in his words, devastated to discover nothing has changed.

“Long Covid Scotland have been trying to meet the Health Secretary but he has refused them. If he hasn’t met them how can he possibly know what they need?”

The First Minister replied: “The Health Secretary has met long Covid patients and I’m sure he’d be more than willing to meet others.

“This is a serious issue and one that we are going to be living with the impact of for some time.”

She added the Government’s long Covid plan contained 16 commitments backed by £10million.