{"id":328012,"date":"2026-03-13T17:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T17:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/328012\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T17:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T17:15:13","slug":"hauora-advocates-warn-new-zealand-failing-to-track-long-covid-as-cases-rise-waatea-news-maori-radio-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/328012\/","title":{"rendered":"#hauora: Advocates Warn New Zealand Failing to Track Long COVID as Cases Rise \u2013 Waatea News: M\u0101ori Radio Station"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/logo-4.png\" alt=\"Watermark\" class=\"watermark\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"940\" height=\"788\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Waatea-2026-03-05T093551.755.png\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Role Funding: <\/p>\n<p data-start=\"74\" data-end=\"252\">Health advocates are warning that as many as 250,000 people in Aotearoa may be living with long COVID, but the country is not formally tracking the condition at a national level.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"254\" data-end=\"536\">Long COVID Support Aotearoa says the lack of national data means the true scale of the illness remains unclear, despite growing evidence that a significant number of people continue to experience symptoms months after their initial infection.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"538\" data-end=\"905\">Long COVID refers to a range of ongoing health problems that persist for 12 weeks or longer after someone has recovered from the initial COVID-19 infection. Symptoms can include fatigue, breathing difficulties, brain fog, heart issues and other long-term health complications that can affect daily life and the ability to work.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"907\" data-end=\"1199\">Researchers say international studies suggest between 10 and 20 percent of people who contract COVID-19 may develop long-term symptoms. Applied to New Zealand\u2019s infection numbers, this could mean hundreds of thousands of people are affected nationwide.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1201\" data-end=\"1570\">Advocates say the absence of a coordinated national monitoring system is leaving patients largely invisible within the health system. Without reliable data on how many people are affected, it becomes difficult for policymakers to plan health services, research programmes or workplace support for those living with the condition.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1572\" data-end=\"1865\">The group is calling for the government to establish a national registry and a clearer strategy for addressing long COVID, including better data collection, improved clinical services and stronger support systems for people dealing with ongoing illness.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1867\" data-end=\"2129\">While the Ministry of Health has funded research projects and developed clinical guidance for managing long COVID, advocates say much more needs to be done to understand its long-term impact on communities and the economy.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2131\" data-end=\"2520\">The call comes as COVID-19 infections have continued to circulate across the country since the pandemic began in 2020, with millions of cases recorded in Aotearoa. Health experts say the long-term effects of the virus could become a significant public health challenge in the years ahead if the condition remains under-recognised and under-measured.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2522\" data-end=\"2746\">Support groups say recognising the scale of long COVID is the first step toward ensuring those affected receive the medical care, financial support and research attention needed to address the lasting impact of the pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Role Funding: Health advocates are warning that as many as 250,000 people in Aotearoa may be living with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-328012","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}