BRUSSELS, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) — The European Commission will launch on Tuesday a 2-million-euro (2.2-million-U.S.) project aimed at tackling long-term COVID-19, which according to the World Health Organization (WHO) affected 36 million people across Europe in the first three years of the pandemic, the commission said on Tuesday.
Persistent COVID-19 cost the European Union (EU) economy between 0.2 and 0.3 percent of gross domestic product in lost output in 2022 due to reduced labor supply, the commission estimates.
The project, which will be funded by the EU4Health programme, will be managed by the WHO and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The project aims to define long COVID, develop a surveillance system, promote information exchange between healthcare professionals and provide clinical guidance to EU Member States.
It also seeks to support affected patients and caregivers, assess the consequences of long COVID, and identify research gaps and needs.
The commission will also create a long COVID group for professionals and patients to share their experiences.
