76% of Wuhan patients hospitalised for coronavirus still had symptoms six months later: Study

76per cent orthree-quarters of Wuhan patients who were hospitalised after they contacted the novel coronavirus still had symptoms six months later and the proportion was higher in women,according to a new study published the Lancet.

The research, involvinghundreds of patients in the Chinese city ofWuhan, is among the few to trace the long-term symptoms of Covid-19 infection.

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As per Lancet's latest study, at sixmonths after acute infection, COVID-19 survivors in Wuhan were mainly troubled with fatigue or muscle weakness, sleep difficulties, and anxiety or depression.

"Because Covid-19 is such a new disease, we are only beginning to understand some of its long-term effects on patients' health," said lead author Bin Cao, of the National Center for Respiratory Medicine.

The professor said the research highlighted the need for ongoing care for patients after they have been discharged from hospital, particularly those who have had severe infections.

"Our work also underscores the importance of conducting longer follow-up studies in larger populations in order to understand the full spectrum of effects that Covid-19 can have on people," he added.

Also see:Wuhan virus: 10 steps on how to be China and make most of the pandemic

The World Health Organization has said the virus poses a risk for some people of serious ongoing effects -- even among young, otherwise healthy people who were not hospitalised.

The new study included 1,733 Covid-19 patients discharged from Jinyintan Hospital inWuhanbetween January and May last year.

Researchers also conducted physical examinations and lab tests.

The study found that 76 per cent of patients who participated in the follow-up (1,265 of 1,655) said they still had symptoms. Fatigue or muscle weakness was reported by 63 per cent, while 26 per cent had sleep problems.

The study also looked at 94 patients whose blood antibody levels were recorded at the height of the infection as part of another trial.

When these patients were retested after six months, their levels of neutralising antibodies were 52.5 per cent lower.

The authors said this raises concerns about the possibility of Covid-19 re-infection, although they said larger samples would be needed to clarify how immunity to the virus changes over time.

Patients, who had an average age of 57, were visited between June and September and answered questions on their symptoms and health-related quality of life.

It comes as mainland China saw its biggest daily increase in COVID-19 cases in over five months, the country's health authority said on Monday, as new infections in Hebei province surrounding Beijing continued to rise.

Chinese authorities introduced new COVID-19 curbs in areas surrounding Beijing on Tuesday, putting 4.9 million residents under lockdown as new infections raised worries about a second wave in a nation that has mostly contained the disease.

China has been accused of initially covering up the outbreak that first emerged in the central city ofWuhanin late 2019, which critics say delayed China's initial response and allowed COVID-19 to spread globally.

Earlier,the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had said that the nearly half a million residents of Wuhan, the original epicentre of the novel coronavirus,may have been infected with it almost 10 times its official number of confirmed cases.