'Going mad': Lack of data plagues Asia's long COVID patients

Some 230 million people globally thought to be affected by long COVID. The effects range from mild to disabling, and there are no proven diagnostic tests or treatments. | REUTERS

by ANNIE BANERJI AND MARIEJO RAMOS
Mar 1, 2025

NEW DELHI/MANILA – From blackouts, a racing heart, extreme fatigue and brain fog, to severe depression and anxiety, DVL Padma Priya was hit with a constellation of symptoms in 2020, just months after recovering from COVID-19. But without a name for her condition, or support from health professionals, she said she struggled to understand what was wrong.

"I intuitively felt it had something to do with COVID because my health spiralled after that. But I wasn't getting any answers," Priya, 38, said by telephone from Brisbane, where she moved last year from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.