How long is taste gone with COVID?

What feels like lost taste is often linked to reduced smell, because smell contributes strongly to flavour. Food may seem bland, or familiar foods may taste different as the senses return. A changing or distorted taste can occur during recovery. Persistent loss of taste may fit with Long COVID, but it can also have other causes such as nasal blockage, medication effects, or mouth problems.

Keep eating and drinking regularly, choosing nourishing foods with varied textures and temperatures. Take care with hot food, spoiled food, and smoke because reduced smell can remove useful warnings. Gentle oral hygiene and managing nasal symptoms as advised may help comfort. Avoid unproven supplements or strong substances placed in the nose or mouth. Track when taste changes, whether smell is also affected, and how the symptom affects eating.

Arrange a clinical assessment if taste has not started to improve, keeps worsening, or makes eating and drinking difficult. Seek urgent help for trouble breathing, chest pain, new confusion, severe weakness, or inability to keep fluids down. A clinician can review COVID-19 symptoms, medicines, nasal or mouth problems, and other possible explanations.

Could reduced smell be making food seem tasteless? Should my medicines, mouth, or nose be checked? What changes would suggest Long COVID? How can I maintain nutrition while flavour is reduced?