Today’s coronavirus news: Risk of long COVID appears higher after catching Delta variant vs. Omicron, researchers say


The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Sunday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.

9 a.m.: As the COVID-19 pandemic raged through Los Angeles in 2020 and 2021, infecting thousands of Los Angeles police officers, LAPD officials mandated that officers wear protective masks while at work and when interacting with the public.

They also promised to hold those who didn’t accountable.

However, new data show that few officers were ever formally punished for disobeying the directive, despite hundreds of complaints both from the public and internally within the department.

In 2020 and 2021, just two mask complaints — one per year — out of 268 that were filed resulted in formal punishment for the officers involved, according to annual reports from the LAPD’s Professional Standards Bureau, which includes internal affairs.

The reports did not name the disciplined officers, describe the underlying circumstances of the complaints or say how many officers were involved in the two complaints that were upheld, or “sustained.”

7 am: Your throat feels scratchy and you’re sneezing; is it the start of seasonal allergies or something more worrisome?

Friends have invited you for a home-cooked dinner; you’re longing to go, but worry about keeping everyone safe.

Your stir-crazy child no longer has a fever and is bored of TV; can you send her back to school now that she is symptom-free?

The pandemic has added layers of uncertainty to what were once easy, everyday decisions. And though people no longer stand in hours-long lines to get a free box, experts say rapid antigen tests remain a valuable tool that can help bring some clarity to common COVID-19 questions.

Since January, the province has distributed 128.4 million rapid tests, according to the Ministry of Health, which confirmed free kits will be available at pharmacies and grocery stores until at least July 31.

While the province’s COVID wastewater signal is declining, Ontario is still seeing an estimated 60,000 to 85,000 new cases a day. With plenty of COVID circulating, the Star checked in with three experts about how they use rapid tests in the Omicron era.

Read the full story here from Megan Ogilvie.

5 am: The risk of lingering symptoms after COVID-19 appears influenced by the strain of coronavirus that caused the infection, according to an analysis from the UK, where an estimated 1.8 million people reported experiencing long COVID in early April.

The odds of reporting fatigue, shortness of breath, difficulty concentrating and other persistent symptoms were 50% lower following infections likely caused by the Omicron BA.1 variant than those likely caused by the Delta strain, the Office for National Statistics said in a report Friday . The difference was found only among adults who were double vaccinated when infected. Among those who were triple vaccinated, the difference wasn’t statistically significant.

Among triple vaccinated adults, the odds of reporting long COVID were higher following infection with the Omicron BA.2 variant than the BA.1 variant, the analysis found.

More than two-thirds of those with self-reported long COVID, or 1.2 million people, said their symptoms adversely affected their day-to-day activities, and almost a fifth said their symptoms limited them a lot, according to the statistics bureau.

Most long COVID symptoms don’t seem to be life-threatening, but things like shortness of breath or fatigue can be disabling. The US Government Accountability Office said in a March report that long COVID could affect the broader economy through decreased labor participation and an increased need for use of Social Security disability insurance or other publicly subsidized insurance.

2 am: China’s lockdowns to contain COVID-19 have snarled operations at the world’s largest port in Shanghai and stalled activity in major cities, affecting the supply chains of businesses from Tesla Inc. to Apple Inc.

Trade data on Monday will provide clues to the extent of the damage. Chinese export growth likely slowed to its weakest pace since June 2020, while imports probably contracted for a second month, a sign of weak consumer spending as millions of residents in Shanghai and elsewhere were confined to their homes.

As manufacturer to the world, the disruptions in China are weighing on the global economy and add another risk to the inflation picture. In Shanghai, where most of the population have been under some form of lockdown for more than five weeks, the government is trying to get production back on track. Yet many foreign businesses say they’re still unable to resume operations.

Early indicators for trade aren’t promising. South Korean exports, a barometer of worldwide demand, grew by double digits in April, yet shipments to China dropped, suggesting China’s slowdown is a product of its own Covid restrictions.

Elsewhere, the US may see another elevated inflation figure, UK gross domestic product data for the first quarter might already hint at stalling growth, and Mexico’s central bank is likely to raise interest rates again.

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