More than a fifth of coronavirus patients lose their hair within six months of being infected, according to a new study.
Scientists researching long-term symptoms of Covid-19 discovered that alopecia, or hair loss, was a long-term side effect - and is more common in women.
A total of 359 people out of 1,655 were found to suffer with hair loss following research of patients who were hospitalised with Covid-19 in Wuhan, China.
The findings, which are published in The Lancet, also found that fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness and joint pain were also 'primary long-term symptoms.'
Research authors who carried out the investigation said that the long-term effects of the virus still 'remain largely unclear', The Mirror reports.
Scientists went on to say alopecia was 'more common in women than in men', as was physical decline or fatigue and post-activity polypnoea - rapid breathing.
Report authors said in their findings: "At six months after acute infection, Covid-19 survivors were mainly troubled with fatigue or muscle weakness, sleep difficulties, and anxiety or depression.
"Patients who were more severely ill during their hospital stay had more severe impaired pulmonary diffusion capacities and abnormal chest imaging manifestations, and are the main target population for intervention of long-term recovery."
The study was carried out on patients with confirmed Covid who had been discharged from Jin Yin-tan Hospital in the ground zero cty of Wuhan between January 7 and May 29 last year.
After recovering and being discharged, they were later interviewed with a series of questionnaires by researchers.
This was to evaluate their symptoms and health-related quality of life, and to undergo physical examinations and a six-minute walking test, as well as blood tests.
After six months of testing positive the most common symptom reported was fatigue or muscle weakness, at 63 per cent.
This was followed by difficulty getting to sleep, at 26 per cent. Anxiety or depression was also reported among 23 per cent of patients.
Hair loss was reported in 22 per cent of patients.
The NHS does not list hair loss as a symptom of coronavirus and says people can lose between 50 and 100 hairs a day, often without noticing.
