Key Points
- Long COVID symptoms in children include fatigue, altered smell and anxiety
- Australian Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly fronts a senate inquiry into long COVID
- Victoria reports a rise in new weekly COVID-1 cases
The World Health Organization has released a new clinical case definition for long or post-COVID in children and adolescents.
It said minors impacted by long COVID are more likely to report fatigue, altered smell and anxiety than their healthy peers.
"Symptoms generally have an impact on everyday functioning such as changes in eating habits, physical activity, behaviour, academic performance, social functions (interactions with friends, peers, family) and developmental milestones," the WHO said.
"Symptoms may be new onset following initial recovery from an acute COVID-19 episode or persist from the initial illness. They may also fluctuate or relapse over time."
The WHO said symptoms in children can start within three months of the initial infection and last up to at least two months, just like the adults.
Symptoms of long COVID in adults include fatigue, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, memory, concentration or sleep problems, a persistent cough, chest pain, difficulty speaking, muscle aches, loss of smell or taste, depression or anxiety and fever.
Data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation showed 145 million people had developed post-COVID-19 conditions by the end of 2021.
On Friday, Australia's Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly and Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd fronted a senate inquiry into long COVID.
Professor Kelly said the government was developing a strategy to deal with long COVID.
He, however, didn't provide a timeline for when the strategy will be ready.
Prof Kelly said collecting long COVID data is complicated and challenging in the absence of a clear definition.
"The ones we're using at the moment (are) – the WHO definition, the NICE definition from the UK. They're great for research purposes because they're so broad," he said.
"But in terms of trying to actually understand this thing, we have to get beyond it, and if no one else is going to do it, then we should do it here."
On Thursday, Prof Kelly said they are predicting "another couple" of COVID-19 waves this year.
"I think there will be a long tail to this pandemic even once the acute phase is slowing down," he said.
Australia has lost more than 18,000 people, including 14,855 in 2022, to COVID-19 since the pandemic started.
On Friday, New South Wales announced a slight decline in weekly COVID cases.
It reported 6,033 new cases compared to 6,440 the week before.
Victoria, however, saw an increase in weekly cases. It reported 3,344 cases this week compared to 2,941 last week.
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