Good News, Long COVID Sufferers Do Not Transmit The Corona Virus

Spokesperson for the Task Force for Handling COVID-19 Wiku Adisasmito (Photo: BNPB documentation)

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, explained that people with long COVID-19 will not transmit the corona virus to those around them.

Long COVID-19 is a prolonged symptom condition that appears in patients who have been declared cured of COVID-19 based on a negative swab result.

"Please note that those who suffer from long COVID-19 will not transmit the same symptoms or the COVID-19 virus to those around them," Wiku said in the Presidential Secretariat Youtube broadcast, Tuesday, March 9.

Wiku explained, generally, sufferers of COVID-19 will recover within 2 to 6 weeks. However, for some people, some symptoms will be felt after a few weeks of being declared recovered. This is what is known as long COVID.

This, said Wiku, can also happen to those who suffer from mild symptoms, who are young, and also do not have comorbidities.

"The results showed that in samples aged 18 to 34 years who were previously healthy, 20 percent reported suffering from some prolonged symptoms after suffering from COVID-19," said Wiku.

Wiku explained some of the symptoms experienced by long COVID sufferers. Generally, the symptoms of long COVID are fatigue, difficulty breathing, coughing, joint pain, and chest pain.

Other symptoms that you may also encounter are difficulty thinking and concentrating, depression, muscle aches, headaches, fever, and palpitations.

Then there are also medical complications that may cause lingering health problems in some COVID-19 survivors, although they are rare.

This problem appears to affect different organ systems of the body. These include swelling of the heart muscle, problems with lung function, acute kidney damage, itching and hair loss, and problems with the sense of smell and taste.

"I hope that with these findings, the public can be more vigilant. The negative impact on health is not only felt by those who suffer from comorbids, but also for those who are quite young and do not even suffer from any comorbids," said Wiku.

"With the results of this research, I also really hope that some parts of society who are indifferent to COVID-19, even do not believe, can reconsider their way of doing activities," he continued.