Competing interests: The BMJ has judged that there are no disqualifying financial ties to commercial companies. The authors declare the following other interests: RE and TG are members of the NHS England Task Force for long covid; TG is a member of Independent SAGE and an unpaid adviser to a philanthropic fund (Balvi) which donates to long covid research; AP is Treasurer of the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine and has done paid advisory work with Ipsen and Merz unrelated to covid-19, he is also a co-author on the Long Covid Self-Help Guide; NS is a founding member of Long Covid Support. Further details of The BMJ policy on financial interests is here: https://www.bmj.com/sites/default/files/attachments/resources/2016/03/16-current-bmj-education-coi-form.pdf.