Former Leigh MP urges employers not to rush people suffering with Long Covid back to the office
Jo Platt has been living with the effects of coronavirus for over a year
The former MP for Leigh is calling on employers not to rush people who are suffering with the long-term effects of Covid back into the office.
It's now thought more than 1 million people have been hit with 'Long Covid', including extreme fatigue and muscle pain.
Former Leigh MP Jo Platt caught Covid in March 2020 and is still feeling the affects over a year on, she said: "We don't know enough about Long Covid and the long lasting effects that it can have on a person's health.
"In regards to relapsing that's basically how you can become more ill by pushing yourself too much, and it's something that I've experienced over the past year now. If I do do too much then that's it, I'm literally out of the game for two weeks and that can carry on for much much longer.
Jo said employers need to be considerate and patient with people living with the long term effects of the virus: "From a symptoms perspective, it's headaches, vertigo, tinnitus, my eye sight when looking at a computer screen - which I used to take for granted even with glasses - it can have a real strain on you.
"If pushed too hard they (relapses) can have a longer lasting effect on an individual.
"My employers have been really good and when I first started returning back to work it was a case of I didn't do mornings, because it was really really difficult. If I did the morning, by 12 'o clock that would be me fatigued, not being able to work, brain fog, headaches and things would start up.