The daily number of Covid-19 tests has stayed above 5,000 as as Pakistan has recorded 42 coronavirus infections with no fatality during the last 24 hours (Friday), showed the statistics released by the National Institute of Health (NIH) on Saturday morning, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

According to the NIH data, the death toll in the country remained unchanged at 30,641 whereas the number of total infections now climbed up to 1,576,879 after adding the fresh 42 cases.

During the last 24 hours (Friday), 5,019 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan as compared to previous day’s nearly 6,000 whereas the positivity ratio has also soared to 0.84%. The number of patients in critical care stood at 15.

https://twitter.com/NIH_Pakistan/status/1629292498760925186

Long Covid more than doubles a person’s risk of heart issues

A new analysis of nearly six million patients confirms what cardiologists have been seeing for years: Patients who experience long-lasting symptoms after a Covid-19 diagnosis, commonly known as long Covid, face a much higher risk of cardiovascular complications.

The new systematic review and meta-analysis, which included data from 11 major studies, will be presented at the American College of Cardiology’s upcoming annual meeting in New Orleans.

Overall, researchers found that patients with long Covid were more than twice as likely to experience cardiac complications such as chest pain and shortness of breath than patients who never had Covid-19.

“Covid-19 is more than a simple respiratory disease—it is a syndrome that can affect the heart,” lead author Joanna Lee, a medical student at David Tvildiani Medical University in Georgia, said in a prepared statement previewing the study. 

“Clinicians should be aware that cardiac complications can exist and investigate further if a patient complains of these symptoms, even a long time after contracting Covid-19. For patients, if you had Covid-19 and you continue to have difficulty breathing or any kind of new heart problems, you should go to the doctor and get it checked out.”

   For the sake of this study, long Covid was defined as any patient still experiencing Covid-19 symptoms two months after infection. There is no universal definition of the term, which has been used more and more as specialists continue to track the long-term impact of this volatile virus.

On a related note, a recent study shared by the American Academy of Neurology found that even mild cases of long Covid can lead to functional and structural changes in the brain.–cardiovascularbusiness.com