30% of Covid patients in England readmitted to hospital after discharge

Nearly a third of people who were discharged from hospitals in
England after being treated for Covid-19 were readmitted within five
months – and almost one in eight died, a study suggests
(https://bit.ly/3LESyqf).
The research, which is still to be peer-reviewed, also found a higher
risk of problems developing in a range of organs after hospital
discharge in those younger than 70 and ethnic minority individuals.
"There’s been so much talk about all these people dying from Covid
… but death is not the only outcome that matters," said Dr Charlotte
Summers, a lecturer in intensive care medicine at the University of
Cambridge who was not involved in this study.
"The idea that we have that level of increased risk in people –
particularly young people – it means we’ve got a lot of work to do."
There is no consensus on the scale and impact of "long Covid", but
scientists have described emerging evidence as concerning. According
to recent figures provided by the Office for National Statistics
(ONS), a fifth of people in England still have coronavirus symptoms
five weeks after being infected, half of whom continue to experience
problems for at least 12 weeks.
"This matters. Long Covid at this level of morbidity and new disease
is absolutely as important as the number of people dying," said
Summers.
Respiratory disease was diagnosed in 14,140 of the Covid-19 cases
(29.6%) following discharge, with 6,085 of the diagnoses in patients
that had no history of respiratory conditions.