Early recovery period of patients after the novel coronavirus infection COVID-19: somatic and psychopatological symptoms

Abstract

After the first cases of COVID-19 were identified, the symptoms in these patients were found to persist for several weeks after the acute infection. Soon, in the spring of 2020, a post-COVID syndrome was described. Mild to moderate COVID-19 lasts for about two weeks in most people. But for others, health problems persist even after patients have recovered from the acute phase of the disease. These patients no longer have live coronavirus in their bodies. When examining such a patient, the test for coronavirus will be negative, but the patient can be seriously weakened, with reduced quality of life and working capacity. These symptoms have several names. In international terminology, there is a term PASC, literally post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2. More common terms are post-COVID or post-COVID syndrome, long-term COVID or long COVID.