Do COVID-19 patients actually recover?

The novel coronavirus is still raging in India and the total positive cases have crossed 4 lakh 90 thousand .The recovery rate is over 50 per cent in India as well as globally.

1.Novel coronavirus is still raging in India with record single day spike

The direct fatality rate is comparatively low for COVID-19 than some of the previous pandemics.However, there is a big catch. Are COVID-19 survivors really fully recovered patients?

2.Are COVID-19 survivors really fully recovered patients?

The disease is new and there is no clear answer to this question. Even the earliest patients who recovered in China got re-infected only a few months ago.

3.The recovered patients got re-infected in many countries

There are not enough data to analyse the long-term effects of COVID-19. This is where it becomes scarier.

4.The long term effects of COVID-19 are being studied

On June 14, a nurse working in Atlanta, US, posted a tweet saying, "When they say 'recovered' they don't tell you that that means you may need a lung transplant. Or that you may come back with a massive heart attack or stroke COVID makes."

5. US health experts have warned about the after effects of COVID-19

Simply, the nurse red-flagged the long-term effects of COVID-19 on patients going home with a discharge slip from a hospital, feeling relieved but without an inkling how their health condition may unfold in coming weeks and months due to the coronavirus infection they just survived.

6. The health condition may unfold after a few weeks or months of recovery: Experts

Standard COVID-19 protocol says an average patient recovers in two weeks and can be discharged. The WHO says critical cases can take up to six weeks for recovery.

7. Critical cases may take up to 6 weeks for recovery: WHO

All recovered patients are advised home isolation for some time and report any new health condition immediately.

8. All recovered patients are advised to report any new health condition immediately

There is not enough verifiable data to know what percentage of COVID-19 patients come back to hospitals with serious health conditions after recovery. But studies in many documents and elsewhere give enough of a glimpse of what may be the long-term effects of COVID-19.

9. Studies in many countries show long term effects of COVID-19

REDUCED LUNG CAPACITY

Studies have pointed to CT (computerised tomography) scans showing distinct changes in lungs of COVID-19 patients. Lungs of a healthy person appear black in CT scans, those of COVID-19 patients show grey patches, called ground-glass opacities.

10. CT scans of recovered COVID-19   patients show grey patches in lungs

These damages to lungs could be permanent, researchers suspect. Researchers found ground-glass opacities in over 70 per cent of COVID-19 patients.

11. 70 per cent of recovered COVID-19 patients showed damage to the lungs

Another study in China established that such lung scarring is not limited to critically ill Covid-19 patients but is seen even in asymptomatic patients. Those with mild symptoms also reported the same patches on their lungs.

12 Asymptomatic and mild patients also reported patches on their lungs

WEAKENED HEART

COVID-19 essentially being a respiratory illness reduces oxygen levels in the body of serious patients. Low oxygen levels in the body increase pressure on heart.

13. COVID-19 increases pressure on the heart: research

That a weakened heart is associated with COVID-19 had been seen even in patients in Wuhan, the early epicentre of coronavirus pandemic. About 20 per cent of COVID-19 patients in Wuhan reported damage to heart.

14. COVID-19 creates damage to the heart: study

DAMAGE TO BRAIN, KIDNEYS

The brain is overly dependent on an uninhibited supply of oxygen by blood vessels. What doctors have found in COVID-19 patients is that many develop blood clots, which can cause brain stroke. Stroke was not diagnosed only among the elderly COVID-19 patients but also in young adults.

15. COVID-19 patients might develop blood clots in the brain

The clotting of blood can cause severe damage to other organs as well, such as lungs, heart and kidneys.

16. The clotting of blood can cause severe damage to lungs, heart and kidneys

Among other possible long-term effects of COVID-19 on recovering patients include impact on neurocognitive ability, increased level of anxiety and other psychological and mental health disorders.

17.Recovered COVID-19 patients include impact on psychology and mental health

Some other studies have indicated infertility as post-COVID health condition and recommended urogenital tract monitoring among men having recovered from COVID-19.

18. Some studies also indicate infertility as post COVID-19 condition