Source: Global Times - Global Network
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[Global Times-Global Network report reporter Wang Wenwen Xia Wenxin Li Aixin] Some Western governments that are "lying flat" in epidemic prevention continue to guide people to believe that "the new crown epidemic is over", but in the Uk alone, there are 2 million "long-term new crown" patients, which brings unlimited trouble to their lives. Ravi Viria Jacques is one of these two millionths. The 23-year-old is the son of the famous British scholar Martin Jacques. He has been affected by chronic COVID-19 symptoms for 15 months and has to spend nearly 16 hours a day in bed. In his own words, the symptoms felt like "becoming a prisoner of one's own body."
"Long-term COVID-19" is a new term that refers to a syndrome that emerges after being infected with COVID-19 and manifests itself as a series of confusing symptoms. According to the US "Fortune" magazine website recently reported, the long-term new crown may affect more than 1 billion people around the world in just a few years.
Recently, Ravi told the Global Times reporter about the disastrous impact of the long-term new crown on his life and study, as well as his views on the British government's epidemic prevention policy. Due to the severe exhaustion he often felt during his illness, the interview had to be conducted in two parts, during which he was postponed several times because of his physical reasons.
Global Times: What are the symptoms of long-term COVID-19? What impact has it had on you?
Ravi: Long-term COVID-19 is defined as the onset of COVID-19 symptoms at least 1 to 3 months after infection. It is a multisystem disease that affects many different body systems, from the respiratory system to the cardiovascular system, the nervous system, and so on.
Its symptoms can be fatigue, it can involve breathing problems, and quite severe cognitive problems known as "brain fog," as well as worrying heart problems. It can also lead to loss of smell and taste, and the severity is varied. I'm in the more serious range.
The long-term coronavirus has had a disastrous impact on my life. My main symptom was debilitating fatigue and I had to spend almost 16 hours a day in bed. I could hardly do anything I liked. I can't walk more than 15 minutes, and before I used to ride my bike several times a week for 20 miles at a time. I also can't write or read at any given time. I often feel more tired after meeting friends.
It is difficult for people who have not experienced fatigue to experience this feeling. Even rest cannot make this extreme exhaustion disappear. If you are overworked, the feeling of exhaustion becomes even worse, so that it becomes difficult to walk, stand, and even go to the toilet. You end up almost becoming a prisoner of your own body.
In addition to fatigue, I have various secondary symptoms, which are characteristic of long-term COVID-19. I lost my sense of smell and taste, had slight tinnitus, and also had minor gastrointestinal problems.
GLOBAL TIMES: Before the long-term COVID-19 pandemic, did you get vaccinated the entire time? Which vaccine is given?
Ravi: When I was just infected with COVID-19, people in my age group hadn't started getting vaccinated yet. I got my first shot around June last year and now I've got three doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Vaccines can reduce the risk of contracting long-term COVID-19 by approximately 15% to 30%. But vaccines are far less effective at preventing long-term COVID-19 than in preventing deaths.
In the UK and the US, anti-epidemic strategies rely only on vaccines. Vaccines have significantly reduced the number of deaths, but even in people with very high vaccination rates, there has been a massive wave of long-term COVID-19 patients.
Global Times: Which age group is at more risk of contracting long-term COVID-19?
Ravi: Anyone can get a long-term COVID-19. You look at me, I'm only 23 years old, a healthy young man, but I've been hit by the long-term coronavirus for 15 months. The risk profile of long-term COVID-19 is very different from that of COVID-19 itself. In terms of age, older people are most likely to die of COVID-19, while middle-aged women are most likely to develop long-term COVID-19.
If you are more exposed to the COVID-19 environment, you are more likely to have a long-term COVID-19 situation. In the UK, healthcare workers, teachers and social workers have suffered disproportionately from chronic COVID-19 as their work throughout the pandemic has been exposed to COVID-19.
The long-term COVID-19 pandemic is a very serious public health crisis. In the UK, 2 million people are currently infected with long-term COVID-19, of which more than 800,000 have been sick for more than a year. A recent paper estimates that about 140 million people worldwide have the disease. This does coincide with the figure that about 15 to 20 percent of COVID-19 infections lead to long-term COVID-19. To make matters worse, we don't currently have a widely available and effective treatment for long-term COVID-19. Some people get better naturally over time, but many are still very sick after two years of long-term COVID-19. As a result, the government must invest a lot of money in long-term COVID-19 research.
Global Times: How is the UK government responding to the COVID-19 pandemic?
Ravi: The UK's response to the outbreak has been incredibly flawed from the start. You have to look back at the very beginning of the pandemic to understand how we got to the point of giving up any form of COVID-19 altogether.
In the early days of the outbreak, people attacked China, believing that China had messed up and that the COVID-19 pandemic was a problem unique to China. In fact, we were supposed to prepare for the containment of COVID-19 and learn from China. By the time COVID-19 came to the UK, it was too late for us to act again. It was too late for us to enter lockdown, which meant we had to lock it off for longer.
In this way, we experienced a long first blockade. Then as soon as the lockdown is lifted, all the restrictions disappear immediately, resulting in more new confirmed cases. Then we entered the second and third untimely and lengthy lockdowns.
Requiring a lot of people to enter these lengthy lockdowns is actually not very effective. In the first year and a half of lockdown, many members of the public and politicians lost their will to contain COVID-19. With the advent of vaccines, it was soon hoped that the outbreak would be over.
Now, the Conservatives have taken a stand on the idea that the epidemic is over: it's no longer a public health issue, but an almost political one. Only then can it explain why people don't have to wear masks in hospitals and why they don't have to self-isolate after getting COVID-19. This is a complete abandonment of public health.
This approach completely ignores the long-term coronavirus. Millions of people suffer from this debilitating chronic disease, which is completely inconsistent with what some believe the COVID-19 pandemic is over. But acknowledging this means that the government's strategy needs to be drastically revised. That's why the government has only invested £40 million in research on long-term COVID-19 symptoms, as the existence of the disease is politically troublesome. We have to believe that COVID-19 is over, which is very frustrating.
Global Times: Omi kerong is highly contagious. But some people think that it is not so dangerous, and even if infected with symptoms is very mild, so that we can coexist with Omicron. What are the risks associated with Omicron? Is this strain really mild?
Ravi: In the West, we declared that the outbreak was over. We think the coronavirus is mild, it's just one of the flu. But the reality is far more complicated than that. The idea that COVID-19 is just a flu is almost purely political rhetoric. The idea that the coronavirus is mild is entirely an understanding from the perspective of a healthy young individual infected with O'Mikhailon.
Indeed, on an individual level, the impact of Omiljung on vaccinated young people is much smaller than that of COVID-19 two years ago, and young people are much less likely to die or have a long-term COVID-19. But there are still 250,000 young people aged 18 to 34 in the UK who suffer from the after-effects of COVID-19.
However, we think too much about the risks posed by COVID-19 on a personal level, and in fact, the biggest danger posed by Omikron is reflected in the social level. SARS is terrible on an individual level, with a fatality rate of between 10% and 15%. But SARS has been brought under control. And COVID-19 is unleashing even more destructive power globally because it is more dangerous on a societal level.
On a societal level, COVID-19 and the Olmikeron strain don't look like the flu at all. Omikeron is very contagious. At the height of the outbreak in Aumicron, The United Kingdom, around 500,000 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 every day. When a country has so many infections, a small personal risk adds up to a relatively high number.
In the UK, at the peak of infection in Omikejong, three or four hundred people died every day, and it occurred in groups with relatively high vaccination rates. In the United States, where vaccination rates are low, 2,000 to 4,000 people die every day from covid-19, a worrying number. There is still a long-term new crown in society, and it is particularly important to include the long-term new crown in the analysis of the new crown epidemic. So far, around 400,000 people in the UK have suffered from a long-term coronavirus as a result of Omi kerong. Thus, the so-called mild variants that have allowed the government to declare the epidemic over have created a truly catastrophic wave of chronic disease. And this chronic disease we currently have no way to treat or cure.
GLOBAL TIMES: Is the long-term coronavirus an unprecedented existence? What can we learn about the long-term COVID-19 from other viral sequelae?
Ravi: When I tell people about the long-term coronavirus, they're amazed that it actually exists. I think the general perception of viruses is that viruses cause two outcomes —either dead or alive—and it's almost impossible to have any outcome between life and death. But in fact, the after-effects of the virus have always existed. A large proportion of people develop long-term debilitating symptoms within months, years, or even decades of contracting the virus.
The most common viral sequelae are called myalgic encephalomyelitis and are also known as "chronic fatigue syndromes.". Myalgic encephalomyelitis sounds like the name of a rare disease, but in fact it is very common. There are 250,000 people living with the disease in the UK and 1 million in the US. Patients have symptoms that are almost identical to long-term COVID-19: they feel fatigued, suffer from encephaloplasma, and have cardiovascular, respiratory, and cognitive problems.
For decades, funding for research into the after-effects of the virus has been woefully underfunded, resulting in the inability to produce effective treatments. Otherwise we must now have a cure for long-term COVID-19. Today, people have to make up for the decades that have been wasted.
Global Times: If you hadn't had a long-term coronavirus, you would have finished your studies at Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University. What is the status of your academic research?
Ravi: Before I fell ill, I had just graduated from Stanford University and was going to study at Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University. But because of the epidemic, I couldn't go to Beijing, so I took online classes in London for the first two semesters. I really want to go to Tsinghua and I also yearn for life in Beijing.
If I had been able to go to China, I probably wouldn't have gotten sick because China has controlled the epidemic very well. That way I probably won't get COVID-19 and then get a long-term COVID-19. I have one more semester at Tsinghua, and I will continue my studies after I am well. Now, my body has not recovered to the point where I can continue learning. I'm now mainly focused on rehabilitation, but I'm also doing work to raise awareness of COVID-19 in the long term. I write articles, do interviews like this, and also manage a support group for young people with long-term COVID-19.
Global Times: How can China help tens of millions of long-term COVID-19 patients around the world?
Ravi: This is one of the biggest benefits of China's anti-epidemic strategy – China does not have major long-term COVID-19 problems.
I think China has a very important role to play in long-term COVID-19 research. This will also benefit China. China can help reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading throughout society by investing in long-term COVID-19 research.
China is a country with very rich resources and world-class scientists. If China invests in long-term COVID-19 research, it can accelerate international research. This will have an impact on people around the world who are chronically infected with COVID-19. This allows us to receive treatment earlier. So I really hope that China can invest in this research and get Chinese scientists to tackle this challenge together.