Post-acute COVID-19 (“long covid”) seems to be a multisystem disease, sometimes occurring after a relatively mild acute illness.

Clinical management requires a whole-patient perspective.

This article, intended for primary care clinicians, relates to the patient who has a delayed recovery from an episode of COVID-19 that was managed in the community or in a standard hospital ward.

Broadly, such patients can be divided into those who may have serious sequelae (such as thromboembolic complications) and those with a non-specific clinical picture, often dominated by fatigue and breathlessness.

The specialist rehabilitation needs of a third group, covid-19 patients whose acute illness required intensive care, have been covered elsewhere.

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