Boris Johnson asked: ‘Do we really believe in long Covid?’

Boris Johnson questioned whether long Covid was real despite it being a “foreseeable” problem.

Speaking at the Covid inquiry on Friday, long Covid experts Chris Brightling and Rachael Evans said for those working in the area of post-viral diseases, it was obvious it could become a “potential problem”.

Brightling, a professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Leicester, said: “It was foreseeable to us before the pandemic because we were aware of what had happened with SARS-CoV-1 and it was even more apparent early on in the pandemic that this could be a potential problem.”

“Very early on we were already considering that there were a number of clear areas that needed to be addressed,” he added. “Certainly trying to address the acute condition and trying to improve management in the hospital, vaccination to try and be part of the public health measure and also then the likelihood of long-term effects. This was something we recognised very early on, then developed a programme of work which we then wrote up in March of 2020.”

Data on post-viral illnesses was available, according to the experts, from 2010.

“The SARS-CoV-1 post-viral syndrome data was in the public domain by 2010 and had been presented and discussed at scientific meetings,” said Brightling. “So although the numbers were very small, we were aware.”

Despite this, very little was done to support long Covid sufferers by the NHS or public health authorities, with the experts saying patients were “left alone with a very frightening condition”.

“Healthcare professionals weren't there to support them and the research wasn’t there,” said Evans, a clinical associate professor at the University of Leicester.

The inquiry was also shown a document on long Covid, on which Johnson had written: “Bollocks.”

“This is Gulf War syndrome stuff,” he also wrote, referring to an illness that affected veterans from the 1991 war with no one cause identified.

Another document included in evidence showed Johnson asking: “Do we really believe in long Covid?”.

Brightling said he was “deeply saddened and extremely angry” by the comment, and that Johnson’s “bollocks” statement made no sense considering “the science was already quite compelling that this was a problem”.

A long Covid sufferer and founder of the Long Covid SOS group told the inquiry public messaging around the risks was poor.

“The other concern was not only was long Covid not considered by the government,” said Ondine Sherwood. “There was no public messaging about long Covid at all. So not only were people at risk of getting and developing long Covid, they didn't know about the risk. “

Long Covid groups protested outside the hearing centre in London today, holding signs reading: “Believe me” and: “Help me.”

The inquiry continues.