TOKYO: Japanese health minister, Katsunobu Kato, said July 10 his ministry will begin to study the aftereffects COVID-19 patients may continue to suffer even after recovering, starting as early as August. 

There have been reports of patients who were administered with oxygen due to deterioration in respiratory functions after they tested negative for the coronavirus and left hospital, according to the ministry.

The study will cover 1,000 adult patients whose symptoms were so severe that they were given oxygen while in hospital. They will have their lung functions examined and computed, undergo tomography, or CT scans of the chest, for example, a ministry officials said.

Patients who had mild symptoms will be surveyed about problems they may have had after leaving hospital. Blood samples will be taken when necessary for analysis, the officials said.

The ministry aims to improve therapy for patients with remaining symptoms by examining common factors among them, the officials said.

JIJI Press