Mild COVID-19 patients may take up to a month for full recovery: Experts

New Delhi: Despite recovering from COVID-19, many patients have complained of symptoms not going away, raising concerns about how long the virus actually affects a person. To this, medical experts here have said that while the person might test negative after 14 days of treatment, it may take a longer time to fully recover from the infection and its symptoms.

Amar had recovered from the contagious disease on June 30 and had mild symptoms such as a complete loss of taste and smell. "It has been almost eight days and my taste and smell sensations aren't fully functional. I got scared and started researching a lot coming to different conclusions," he told Millennium Post.

Niharika, who had recovered on June 25, is also experiencing the same symptoms. "I also feel fatigued after I do some activity for a few minutes. I tried to go for a walk a few days back and when I came back I almost fainted, which is when I consulted the doctor who told me I still had weakness," she said.

The World Health Organi-zation (WHO) estimates that it may take up to six weeks or longer for someone to fully recover if they were in critical condition. With mild symptoms, medical experts say the recovery would be faster.

"For mild patients, it can take up to a month for a patient to fully recover. In cases where a patient's smell and taste sensation is gone, their nerves get affected due to the virus and it takes at least 28 days for it to recover," said Dr Rajesh Kumar Gupta, Additional Director, Pulmonology and Critical Care at Fortis Hospital.

Medical experts have said that the virus may leave a long-lasting impact on severe patients, however, they are yet to learn more about the virus, the disease it causes and other aspects of the infection. "The uncertainty of this virus is such that we cannot say anything for sure because things are constantly changing. Different studies are coming up every day so we can't say anything for sure. But yes, we have seen some long-lasting impact on patients," said a senior doctor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here.

Meanwhile, medical experts have somewhat observed that a patient might remain contagious between one to eight days after their symptoms subside.