One in five people treated for acute COVID-19 are still battling severe symptoms eight months later, according to the first long-term follow-up of an Australian cohort.

Doctors at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital who analysed data on 81 patients say the 15 meeting their definition for ‘long COVID’ had one or more ongoing symptoms of fatigue, laboured breathing or chest pain.

And many more — up to one in three patients — have some lingering or new symptoms, including headaches and loss of smell, suggesting they weren’t fully recovered.

The results, to be published as a preprint on MedRxiv, showed no difference in prevalence of symptoms between the four-month and eight-month mark, aside from a small improvement in psychological symptoms.