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Long COVID is costing countries billions of dollars in lost productivity and increased health and social welfare costs, economists say.

Five years on from the start of the COVID-19 crisis, millions of people are struggling with debilitating health problems that have decimated their lives and livelihoods.

The first cases of long COVID were reported in May 2020.

The OECD, a club of mostly rich nations, estimates long COVID could be costing its 38 members $864 billion to $1.04 trillion annually due to reductions in quality of life and labour force participation. This does not include the extra burden on health services.

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Patients with difficult-to-diagnose conditions like endometriosis are often sent home with diagnoses like anxiety or bipolar disorder

The body of a disabled man was found in his flat in distressing, squalid conditions, just weeks after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) wrongly removed his disability benefits because he had failed to return a claim form.

His sister, his only surviving close relative, believes he may have been left without enough credit on his phone to call for help, while he had not had enough money to fix his broken mobility scooter.

Susan believes the wrongful removal of his personal independence payment (PIP) played a significant part in his death.

She told Disability News Service (DNS): “He was already on the breadline, so I think it would have been devastating for him.”

She also believes DWP failed to make the necessary safeguarding checks before removing his PIP.

She has now warned that the death of her much-loved brother must act as a warning of the horrors to come if the government goes ahead with its planned £4.5 billion cuts to PIP.

Trump’s administration is dismantling disability rights and education. History has shown this can be a warning sign for all civil liberties

The termination follows other steps that appear to target and erase federal responses to the Long COVID crisis.

This news, also reported by POLITICO and the Substack Inside Medicine, represents another blow among several moves this administration has taken to diminish federal resources for studying and supporting people with Long COVID.