250,000 Kiwis May Have Long Covid — But NZ Isn’t Counting

New Zealand isn't tracking the size or cost of Long Covid nationally. Yet experts estimate our post-Covid illness crisis could involve as many as a quarter of a million people.

In the absence of prevalence data here, Public Health Communication Centre experts estimate a quarter of a million Kiwis — roughly 5% of the population — could have Long Covid. This is within the ballpark of findings in other countries.

Long Covid Support Aotearoa says better data are urgently needed to understand the true impact of the condition and to plan appropriate health services.

“Long Covid is no longer a mystery illness — thousands of research papers have now been published worldwide,” Long Covid Support Aotearoa Chair Larisa Hockey said.

Health economics professor Paula Lorgelly, lead researcher for the Long Covid Registry Aotearoa, says Long Covid’s illness burden is significant.

“Quality-of-life impacts reported by patients are similar to cancer and MS. But the broader societal implications of Long Covid are, in the words of UK immunologist Professor Danny Altmann, ‘so large as to be unfathomable’.”

Long Covid Support Aotearoa says national prevalence monitoring would help policymakers to understand the scale of the issue and ensure the health system is prepared.

“Without good data, it’s difficult to plan services or support people effectively,” Hockey said. “Counting Long Covid properly is the first step towards addressing it.”

Long Covid is largely absent from the recent Covid-19 inquiry. In both phases, the Royal Commission excluded the condition as “out of scope”. In contrast, the Australian government completed a whole inquiry into Long Covid in 2023.

Long Covid Support Aotearoa is calling for:

National Long Covid prevalence monitoring

Economic analysis on the cost of Long Covid

Clear clinical pathways and support for primary care

Ongoing access to Covid-19 prevention measures, including wider vaccine eligibility for all age-groups from six months.

New Zealand is also in the dark on Long Covid’s price tag. No studies have assessed its cost to our economy. Health specialists have applied a 2024 Australian cost estimate to our country - proposing a figure of more than $2 billion annually in lost productivity alone.

“New Zealand moved quickly to prevent Covid deaths,” Hockey said. “Now we must ensure the long-term health impacts are not overlooked.”

© Scoop Media