- Of the Swedish material, 2.5 percent had continued symptoms eight weeks after falling ill, says Professor Tove Fall, who leads the Swedish part of the Covid Symptom Study. 

Thanks to a mobile app where covid patients can report symptoms daily, researchers have been able to analyze 4.4 million users in Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

More than 4,000 people with a positive coronary test and confirmed covid are included in the study.

The study has now been submitted for publication but has not yet been scientifically reviewed.   

Challenge for both individuals and the Swedish Social Insurance Agency

The Swedish Public Health Agency estimates the mortality rate in covid at 0.6 per cent.

With close to 6,000 deaths in Sweden, that means around one million infected.

The opinion institute Novus comes to the same figure in its surveys.

There may therefore be 25,000 Swedes affected by long-term covid, many times more than those who died from the corona pandemic. 

- This is a challenge for both individuals to be ill for such a long time, the proportion that becomes so, but also for the insurance systems, that you can count on a lot of long sick leave, Tove Fall believes.

Women more affected The


most commonly reported symptoms were fatigue, headache, shortness of breath and loss of smell.

Researchers have also developed a method for predicting who is most at risk.

Women are more affected than men and the older a covid infected is, the more often they suffer from long-term symptoms. 

- With a few simple variables such as age and how many symptoms you have in the first week, you can make a qualified guess about who will get long-term covid, Tove Fall says. 

- I broke down sometime this summer when I had to turn halfway on the road where I usually run, says Mathilda Sundvall who has been ill for seven months and who has been diagnosed with covid. 


Mathilda Sundvall has been involved in starting a patient association, the Swedish Covid Association, where she is now vice chairman. 

- If we do not make sure to investigate the people and be able to initiate treatment so they get an opportunity to get healthy and get out of work again, this will cost a lot for society, says Mathilda Sundvall.