COVID-19 (Page 56)

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted underlying inequalities that ethnic minorities face in the UK. In England, both death rates and hospital admission rates are more than twice as high for Black people or people from a south Asian background than they are for white people. The poorer outcomes from COVID-19 among the Black and Asian populations are a result of the underlying social and economic risk factors that ethnic minorities face, such as living in overcrowded accommodation, being employed in riskier lower-skilled jobs, having worse access to healthcare, not to mention structural racism. But among these well-documented racial inequalities, there is another hidden story: the specific plight of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) business owners who have also beenContinue Reading

Cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces and objects (such as door handles) can help prevent the spread of infectious diseases. This is more relevant now than ever. One way that COVID-19 can spread is when people who have the virus leave infected droplets on surfaces after sneezing or coughing. Studies have found SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) can survive on some surfaces for days – particularly those made of plastic or metal. If another person touches an infected surface, and then touches their eyes, nose or mouth before having washed or sanitised their hands, it’s possible they could become infected. This is why handwashing has become such a focus during the pandemic. But at Queen’s University Belfast, we’re developingContinue Reading

microstock3D/Shutterstock For those of us who insist on seeing the glass half full, even when the miserable brigade point out that it’s also half empty, COVID-19 poses particular challenges. In regular times, our relentless optimism wins us friends and provides us with a host of benefits including higher levels of wellbeing, increased resilience and better health. Normally, the only downsides relate to minor setbacks when things don’t turn out the way we would like and the mild irritation of grumpy colleagues when we’re chirpy at work. Now, things are very different. During a pandemic, we need to act as though it’s likely we will get COVID-19 in order to keep ourselves safe and avoid spreading the disease to others. SoContinue Reading

Following an “invisible summer” caused by the coronavirus pandemic, elite women’s sport is finally returning – long after men resumed playing. Earlier this month, the women’s 15s rugby union competition for 2020-2021 kicked off, after the 2019-2020 season was cancelled in March. The new season features adapted rules to avoid the transmission of coronavirus. This came two full months after the men’s rugby union was able to restart its 2019-2020 season, played with the same rules as before and with the added bonus of regular COVID-19 testing. It’s a similar story for other sports. The England women’s cricket team returned to international action against the West Indies in September after a six-month absence. The men’s international team had recommenced twoContinue Reading

The Grand Hotel Taipei in Taiwan lights up rooms to mark five days with no new COVID-19 cases. Ricky kuo/Shutterstock Most scientists agree that stringent control measures, involving efficient contact tracing, testing and isolation, together with social distancing and mask wearing, are required to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2. South Korea, Taiwan, China and New Zealand have all successfully used these approaches to suppress the virus. A few have even called for a zero COVID-19 approach, attempting to eliminate the virus rather than contain its spread. New Zealand almost succeeded but, after 100 days without a case, new infections emerged from international travel and other unknown sources. While it’s possible to flatten the curve using these control measures, getting toContinue Reading

Eugene Lu/Shutterstock Around the world, virologists in labs are constantly handling samples of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, as part of our global quest to understand, and hopefully overcome, this pandemic. We know that SARS-CoV-2 is highly infectious and can be lethal if it gets inside our bodies. So it’s vital these scientists are protected from becoming infected. This is nothing new. Virologists regularly handle large quantities of virus in much more concentrated forms than we would encounter in the outside world. So how do we stay safe from these pathogens? There are a lot of different levels of protection we use, but what it all comes down to is trust and responsibility. Procedure and protocols Before anyone getsContinue Reading

PA With COVID-19 cases rising rapidly and 83% of beds in intensive care currently occupied, things have not been going well in Northern Ireland. Therefore, after a long meeting on Tuesday October 13, First Minister Arlene Foster announced that the government would be introducing a set of “circuit breaker” restrictions to try to curb the spread of the virus, beginning on Friday October 16. Northern Ireland is the first UK country to try this tactic. With a circuit breaker, authorities tighten restrictions on what people can do for a set amount of time to reduce transmission of the virus, to try to avoid needing to go into full lockdown. Northern Ireland’s four-week plan includes closing all bars and restaurants (exceptContinue Reading

Nine months into the pandemic, Europe remains one of the regions worst affected by COVID-19. Ten of the 20 countries with the highest death count per million people are European. The other ten are in the Americas. This includes the US, which has the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths in the world. Most of Africa and Asia, on the contrary, still seems spared. Of the countries with reported COVID-related deaths, the ten with the lowest death count per million are in these parts of the world. But while mistakes and misjudgements have fuelled sustained criticism of the UK’s handling of the pandemic, the success of much of the developing world remains unsung. Of course, a number of factorsContinue Reading

M-Foto/Shutterstock Since the early days of the pandemic, attention has focused on producing a vaccine for COVID-19. With one, it’s hoped it will be able to suppress the virus without relying purely on economically challenging control measures. Without one, the world will probably have to live with COVID-19 as an endemic disease. It’s unlikely the coronavirus will naturally burn itself out. With so much at stake, it’s not surprising that COVID-19 vaccines have become both a public and political obsession. The good news is that making one is possible: the virus has the right characteristics to be fended off with a vaccine, and the economic incentive exists to get one (or indeed several) developed. But we need to be patient.Continue Reading

Shutterstock/eamesBOT As we move into the last quarter of 2020, the virus that has defined this troubled year is showing no signs of going away. In the absence of a vaccine or a broadly effective treatment, some are now saying that we must learn to live with COVID-19. But what does that actually look like? It’s a complicated question that boils down to this: Should we allow SARS-CoV-2 to spread through most of the population while shielding all the elderly and those at high risk of serious disease, thus creating some level of underlying immunity in the population? Or is it better to keep up with the control measures and aim for the elimination of the virus? In trying toContinue Reading