00:00How is Long Covid impacting the EU's economy?
00:08Long Covid continues to affect millions of people around the world.
00:12While less than 1% of the population of the EU and OECD countries is expected to suffer from it
00:18over the next 10 years,
00:20around 75 million people had the illness in 2021.
00:24Long Covid can harm nearly every organ system, provoking symptoms like brain fog, fatigue and general pain.
00:32Beyond its profound effects on individual health and daily living,
00:35Long Covid also weighs heavy on a country's health system and national economy.
00:40According to a new report by the OECD, the direct health care costs for tackling the disease will remain high
00:47until at least 2035,
00:49at around 9.5 billion euros a year.
00:52In addition, studies show that Long Covid leads to employment disruption in around 1 in 5 affected workers.
00:59This means that Long Covid could reduce GDP by up to 0.2% each year in OECD and EU
01:06countries,
01:07representing an economic strain of up to 115.3 billion euros in total.
01:13If the socio-economic impact of Long Covid is compared with other major chronic conditions,
01:19it would cost Europe about 60 billion euros, France about 2.7 billion euros and Italy about 4.8 billion
01:28euros a year.
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