​Long Covid Day , time for a national strategy - Alex Cole-Hamilton

I’d felt pretty grotty the night before and so I reached for the last remaining lateral flow test we had in the house. The positive line exploded into colour as soon as the reagent touched it. I had Covid again.

With no real plans and a houseful of food, there are worse times to come down with it, but I felt rotten. It hit me far harder than my first bout, perhaps because it’s much longer since my last booster. But on top of that it didn’t leave me for ages.

I’ve heard several people talk about the 100 day cough that comes with Covid these days; well I had that. My hearing was dulled and my sense of taste took ages to return. Fatigue dogged me every day and it is only now, on the threshold of Easter, that I feel fully clear of it.

I don’t count myself as a Long Covid sufferer, but taking so long to get shot of the virus has given me a renewed appreciation for over 180,000 Scots still battling that debilitating condition.

They are suffering on a daily basis and for many their symptoms are far more severe than anything I had to deal with over Christmas.

I have met people (children and adults alike) who are now wheelchair bound, whose careers have been ended and whose quality of life has been devastated.

This Friday has been designated International Long Covid Awareness Day and as we mark it, it’s important to remember that there is so much more we could be doing to support those who are suffering it.

Those who’ve had it the longest, who got it in the first wave of the pandemic, are known as Long Haulers. All told, as we mark international Long Covid Day, each of them will be entering their fifth year of grappling with the condition. And yet, when it comes to giving them recognition and support, the Scottish Government are absolutely nowhere.

It's no hyperbole to say that every Scottish sufferer would be better off moving to England. The amount of money spent on the condition south of the border is far greater than what it is here. Put simply, if you've got Long Covid in Scotland, the Scottish Government has allocated a mere £34 towards your treatment and care so far.

Sufferers are being so underserved that many have been forced to fund their own treatment through private clinics, or put themselves at risk with unlicensed medications and treatments available abroad.

I want to see the Scottish Government adopting a comprehensive and fully funded Long Covid Strategy to support of our sufferers. Such a strategy should build awareness among employers, so they can recognise it for the disability that it is. We should be getting occupational therapy and social care services to every sufferer who needs it, particularly those managing the condition from home. All of this needs to walk hand in hand with enhanced psychological support to recognise the impact this has on people’s mental health.

The Health Secretary also has some serious work to do to in creating adequate treatment pathways for all those who are suffering, while also providing ongoing training for GPs so they can properly recognise and diagnose long covid.

We will look back on the pandemic and the emergence of Long Covid as the biggest mass disabling event since the end of the First World War. History will judge the actions our government takes now in how it responds to that reality.

Alex Cole-Hamilton is MSP for Edinburgh Western and leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats