One in eight ‘recovered’ Covid patients ‘die within 140 days’

A third of people who recovered after suffering from severe Covid were readmitted to hospital within five months with complications including heart problems, diabetes and chronic liver and kidney conditions. 

New research has shown the devastating long term impact of the virus with one in eight people dying within five months of diagnosis. 

The University of Leicester and the Office for National Statistics found that out of 47,780 people discharged from hospital in the first wave, 29.4% were back in hospital within 140 days and 12.3% died.

Covid survivors were three and half times more likely to be readmitted to hospital and die compared to other conditions. The study – which has not yet been peer reviewed – is believed to be the largest yet that looks at what happened to people discharged from hospital after Covid.