Coronavirus: Hong Kong study shows significant percentage of recovered patients struggle with memory loss, depression

Preliminary results from a team at Chinese University show one-third of subjects forgetting the names of friends or being unable to focus

Another third of the 128 Hongkongers surveyed shown to struggle with depression, anxiety after the infection has passed

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Some Hongkongers are feeling the effects of Covid-19 long after their initial infection has run its course, a new study shows. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 7:38pm, 12 Jul 2021Updated: 10:08pm, 12 Jul 2021

About one-third of recovered coronavirus patients in Hong Kong have reported memory loss, while a similar percentage experienced feelings of depression and anxiety that persisted for months after healing, a preliminary study has found.

Some of the 128 recovered patients surveyed by a team from Chinese University said they had found themselves forgetting the names of friends or unable to focus on tasks, while one elderly patient could not remember a hiking route he frequented near his home.

“These are just preliminary findings, and the study is not complete yet … but we can say these findings are certainly unprecedented and unexpected,” said Dr Arthur Mak Dun-ping, who is leading the research.

“We hope more people can take part, so we can quickly complete the baseline study to help us estimate the prevalence of the problem.”

Some who have been infected by the coronavirus can still feel its effects months down the road, a phenomenon that has been dubbed ‘long Covid’. Photo: EPA-EFE

Mak is in charge of the Hong Kong arm of a global study looking into the pandemic’s impact not only on recovered Covid-19 patients, but ordinary residents, those quarantined in government facilities and health care workers.