The APPG, which now has more than 60 MPs and peers as members, heard that eight in 10 people living with ‘long covid’ feel unable to return to work in a normal capacity.
An online survey of 1,800 people experiencing long-term symptoms found that many employees felt “pressured” to return to work despite feeling unable to do so.
Ms Hastie, who contracted coronavirus in March, said: “We’ve got people in our group who’ve been told or think they’ll never work again. If they’ve got a physical job, someone’s a Pilates instructor for example, she doesn’t know if and when she’ll ever be able to work again in her chosen field of work.
“People are being pressured back by employers who, understandably, don’t understand this.”
She added that it is “not uncommon” for children to have ‘long covid’, noting that scientific research is considering whether genetics is a “potential factor”.
Activist Robin Gorna noted that her three children, aged between 11 and 16, had experienced long-term symptoms of coronavirus.
“One of them has yet to recover, one of them took four months to recover,” she said.
Labour MP Andrew Gwynne, a member of the APPG, revealed he had been unable to shake his own coronavirus symptoms for 18 weeks.
“I feel like [I’m running] the London Marathon whenever I’ve done just a basic task around the house,” he admitted.
“I sometimes struggle just to ask a single Parliamentary question by Zoom and then I’ll spend the rest of the day in bed.”
The Royal College of General Practitioners says it expects GPs to see an influx of patients with “lingering” ‘long-covid’ illnesses.