Discovery Health has flagged a spike in lifestyle conditions, like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, in Covid-19 survivors.
The company, which administers Discovery Medical Scheme (DHMS) and a few others, has been looking at healthcare claims of people who previously contracted Covid-19 and tracking their journeys for a year after getting ill from the virus and beyond.
During the launch of DHMS's new WELLTH Fund, aimed at encouraging people to screen for serious diseases, Discovery Health CEO Ryan Noach said that looking at the data, after complete recovery, the virus "unmasks" underlying lifestyle diseases in some clients. He said that while Discovery Health couldn't say for sure that Covid-19 was causing these lifestyle diseases in some survivors, it was "clearly precipitating it".