According to a new study, more than half of patients and staff who had COVID-19 at an Irish hospital suffered persistent fatigue in the aftermath of the initial disease highlighting the significant burden of lingering symptoms.

It comes as patient groups and doctors call for more research into the medium- and long-term effects of the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which has sickened more than 29 million people across the world and killed at least 940,000.

According to Liam Townsend of St Jame’s Hospital and Trinity Transnational Medicine Institute at Trinity College Dublin said the study which tracked 128 participants at St James’s Hospital, found that 52 percent reported persistent fatigue when they have assessed an average of 10 weeks after “clinical recovery” from infection, regardless of how serious their initial infection was.

The preliminary study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, included 71 people who had been admitted to the hospital and 57 employees of the hospital who had a mild illness.

The average age was 50 and all participants had a confirmed positive Covid-19 test.

Researchers looked at a variety of potential factors, including the severity of the initial illness and pre-existing conditions, including depression.

They found that it made no difference whether a patient had been hospitalized or not.