Long Covid is the pandemic’s dark shadow. Why does no one in power in Britain want to talk about it?

NHS workers demanding compensation for long Covid contracted during the pandemic, outside the high court in London, 23 October 2024. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Imagine a disease that can render its sufferers bedbound for years. One that could take a marathon runner and leave them unable to walk to the toilet. Imagine that at least 2 million people in England and Scotland alone were affected to some degree, each with a mix of debilitating symptoms, from breathlessness to brain fog to multi-organ damage.

Then imagine that there were no proven treatments for this life-changing illness, let alone a cure. In fact, patients are often told it’s all in their heads. Now imagine that more people are falling ill every day with the virus that causes this devastating disability – and that successive governments have abandoned almost every strategy to try to get to grips with it.