Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles and star winger Allan Saint-Maximin suffering from long Covid

REVEALED: Two Newcastle United players suffering from long Covid are struggling to walk, with their manager revealing the ‘supreme athletes’ have suffered from vomiting, sores and mouth ulcers and he fears for their long-term health

  • Jamaal Lascelles and Allan Saint-Maximin suffering from after-effects of covid
  • One in 10 covid survivors suffer lasting symptoms three months after illness
  • The infected players cannot even walk for 30 mins before needing to go to bed
  • Newcastle’s game at Aston Villa earlier this month was postponed after coronavirus ripped through the squad 

Newcastle United have confirmed that captain Jamaal Lascelles and Allan Saint-Maximin are players suffering from the after-effects of Covid-19.

Manager Steve Bruce said on Friday that he fears two of his players have ‘long-term Covid’ and does not know when they will return.

It can be now be confirmed that Lascelles and Saint-Maximin are the players he was talking about.

Bruce revealed that the infected players cannot even walk for half an hour without needing to go back to bed.

Newcastle’s Benton headquarters have been closed since an outbreak of Covid-19 forced them to cancel training at the end of November.

The number of cases soon reached double figures and their Premier League trip to Aston Villa was postponed because of it. The Premier League agreed to postpone the game at Villa given Newcastle had not been able to train. It was the first Premier League fixture postponed because of Covid-19 since last season resumed in June.

Their following game, at home to West Brom, was also in doubt but went ahead after the healthy members of the squad resumed full training.

Winger Allan Saint-Maximin is the other suffering from the after-effects of Covid-19

Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles is one player at the club who is suffering from long Covid

Saint-Maximin's last post on Instagram was of him watching on, dated on November 29

Saint-Maximin’s last post on Instagram was of him watching on, dated on November 29

Lascelles, pictured with girlfriend Harpinder Rai, hasn;t played for Magpies since November 21

Lascelles, pictured with girlfriend Harpinder Rai, hasn;t played for Magpies since November 21

Steve Bruce said the infected players cannot walk for 30 mins without going back to bed

Steve Bruce said the infected players cannot walk for 30 mins without going back to bed

At least 10 players and staff have been affected by the virus at the club and Bruce said it is ‘frightening’ the impact it has had on two of them, with concern remaining for their long-term health.

‘My thoughts are with the two players, and the welfare of them,’ he said. ‘It’s frightening when you think they are young and fit and absolutely supreme athletes. If anybody needs reminding of how serious this is, then we have witnessed it.

‘We’ve had vomiting, sores, mouth ulcers, no smell, no taste, but the big thing, and which is the worrying, is the welfare of one or two of them. It’s not great at all.

‘That long-term Covid is something which you wouldn’t think possible in young, fit, athletes. Unfortunately, it is so.

‘They go for a walk for half an hour and then they want to go back to bed. It’s as brutal as that. The fatigue is the one thing that has hit them all. For two of them, it’s beyond that. We hope there’s light at the end of the tunnel, but some are finding it a struggle.’

Asked when the two players would return, Bruce said: ‘I really don’t know. It’s had a damaging effect. So it won’t be a week or two – it’s going to be longer than that.

‘We hope they recover properly and I will give them the time to recover because it’s about the welfare of them and their long-term health.

Saint-Maximin, who joined Newcastle from French side Nice last year, is a father of three

Saint-Maximin, who joined Newcastle from French side Nice last year, is a father of three 

Lascelles, pictured with his parents Tim (right) and Jill (centre) back in 2017, has been at Newcastle for six years

Lascelles, pictured with his parents Tim (right) and Jill (centre) back in 2017, has been at Newcastle for six years

‘If one or two of them have got long-term Covid, like it seems, then it’s very difficult to manage.’

It was revealed last week that one in 10 coronavirus survivors suffer lasting symptoms three months after beating the illness. 

The Office for National Statistics published a report on ‘long Covid’ — a wide-range of symptoms which linger months after the original illness has cleared up. 

It revealed that 9.9 per cent of Brits who beat the coronavirus still suffered from the lasting effects of the disease 12 weeks later. 

Last week, the manager of Bundesliga club RB Leipzig Julian Nagelsmann said striker Hwang Hee-chan will not play any more games this year as he deals with the lingering effects of Covid-19. 

The most common long Covid symptoms include fatigue, a persistent cough, headaches and loss of taste and smell

The most common long Covid symptoms include fatigue, a persistent cough, headaches and loss of taste and smell

An Office for National Statistics report suggests 9.9 per cent of Brits who beat coronavirus still suffer from the lasting effects of the disease 12 weeks later. And 21 per cent reported persistent symptoms after five weeks of clearing the initial infection

An Office for National Statistics report suggests 9.9 per cent of Brits who beat coronavirus still suffer from the lasting effects of the disease 12 weeks later. And 21 per cent reported persistent symptoms after five weeks of clearing the initial infection

LONG COVID: WHAT IS IT AND COULD IT BE FOUR DIFFERENT SYNDROMES? 

Covid-19 is described as a short-term illness caused by infection with the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Public health officials tend to say people will recover within two weeks or so. 

However it’s become increasingly clear that this is not the case for everyone, and that the two-week period is only the ‘acute illness’ phase.

The North Bristol NHS Trust’s Discover project, which is studying the longer-term effects of coronavirus, found that out of a total of 110 patients given a three-month check up, most (74 per cent) had at least one persistent symptom after twelve weeks. The most common were:

  • Excessive fatigue: 39%
  • Breathlessness: 39%
  • Insomnia: 24%  
  • Muscle pain: 23%
  • Chest pain: 13%
  • Cough: 12%
  • Loss of smell: 12%
  • Headache, fever, joint pain and diarrhoea: Each less than 10% 

Other long term symptoms that have been reported by Covid-19 survivors, both suspected and confirmed, anecdotally, include hearing problems, ‘brain fog’, memory loss, lack of concentration, mental health problems and hair loss.

The impact of Long Covid on people who had mild illness have not been studied in depth yet.  

Data from the King’s College London symptom tracking app shows that up to 500,000 people in the UK are currently suffering from the long-term effects of Covid-19.

In October, scientists claimed Long Covid could actually be split into four different syndromes.  

Academics at the National Institute for Health Research — headed up by Professor Chris Whitty — were asked to review the limited evidence on long Covid to help both patients and doctors understand the ‘phenomenon’. 

Their findings warned that even children can suffer and it can’t be assumed that people who are at lower risk of severe illness and death from Covid-19 are also at low risk of lasting side effects.

Doctors cautioned some mental health problems such as anxiety and depression in ‘long-haulers’, as they are known, could be down to lockdowns, as opposed to the virus itself. 

The experts also claimed that the symptoms could be grouped into four different groups: 

  • Post intensive care syndrome (PICS)
  • Post viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS) 
  • Permanent organ damage (POD)  
  • Long term Covid syndrome (LTCS)