WITH the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring Covid-19 no longer represents a global health emergency, thus ending the pandemic three years after the virus hit, Long Covid sufferer Ray Adderley talks to Andrew Atkinson in Part 1 of an Exclusive interview.
“Honestly, I’ve never really been the same. I get tired a lot quicker, certain things I can smell and taste, others, not at all.
“I’ve had four blood tests already this year, it’s been all clear, thankfully,” said Ray.
Head of the WHO said at least 7 million people died in the pandemic.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the true figure was likely closer to 20 million deaths, nearly three times the official estimate, warning the virus remained a significant threat.
He warned the removal of the highest level of alert did not mean the danger was over and said the emergency status could be re-instated, if the situation changed.
“The worst thing any country can do now is to use this news as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built, or to send the message to its people that Covid-19 is nothing to worry about,” he said.
The World Health Organization first declared Covid-19 to be a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) in January 2020.
Dr Mike Ryan, from the WHO’s health emergencies programme, said: “We fully expect that this virus will continue to transmit and this is the history of pandemics.
“It took decades for the final throes of the pandemic virus of 1918 to disappear. In most cases, pandemics truly end – when the next pandemic begins.”
Manchester born Ray, who has been on vacation to the Costa Blanca, said: “My lung capacity is rubbish, my resting heart rate went from 59, before Covid, to 71 after Covid.”
*Part 2 of Ray Adderley and his Long Covid issues continues next week.
