People in seven areas of the country who tested positive for Covid-19 may receive a text from the Health Service Executive from tomorrow as part of a study to measure their recovery from the disease and provide data on those with Long Covid.
The survey covers the counties of Longford, Westmeath, Laois, Offaly and Kildare, as well as west Wicklow and south Dublin.
Dr Úna Fallon, Consultant in Public Health Medicine with the HSE, said that invitations will go out on a staggered basis during this month and next and the study is expected to be completed by early May.
Those who have had Covid-19 will get a text to say they have been selected, followed by a text with a link to information about the survey.
If they are happy to proceed, they will get another text the following day to access the survey.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Dr Fallon said the purpose of the study is to understand the medium and long-term epidemiology of Covid-19 so the HSE can get a better understanding of how to direct prevention and public health work.
"We’d like to estimate the size of the issue, size and frequency of persistent prolonged symptoms and we will use that information to inform the HSE Long Covid model of care."
Dr Fallon said that information from Long Covid studies varies between 5% and 10% when it comes to persistent symptoms, but this is not known in Ireland in terms of the prevalence of the problem.
