Nearly 36 million in Europe may have experienced long COVID, World Health Organization official says

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The World Health Organization’s Europe director says nearly 36 million people in the region may have long-lasting health problems from coronavirus infections they got during the first three years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Hans Kluge said on Tuesday that “long COVID” remained “a complex condition (that) we still know very little about.” He emphasized that older adults, people with underlying medical conditions and others with weakened immune systems should continue getting vaccinated. WHO’s Europe region covers 53 countries from Ireland to Uzbekistan with a combined population of more than 900 million.  Kluge says that “unless we develop comprehensive diagnostics and treatment for long COVID, we will never truly recover from the pandemic.”