Kittrat Roekburi/Shutterstock For many people, the social restrictions experienced during lockdown will have long-lasting effects. These include stress, depression, insomnia, fear, anger, frustration, boredom and stigma associated with quarantine. But during the pandemic, NHS staff had to face all these things and deal with working on the frontline. As aContinue Reading
Halfpoint/Shutterstock When COVID-19 arrived, it quickly became clear that older age was the biggest risk factor for developing severe disease. Indeed, there are few diseases for which age is so clearly the most important risk factor. NHS doctors have seen this daily. There have been over 131,000 UK deaths fromContinue Reading
The pace of acute therapy and vaccine development for COVID have been dizzying. But even as we hope a route to bringing the pandemic under control is within sight, we’re now facing the possibility of another urgent public health emergency thanks to what’s known as long COVID, a group ofContinue Reading
After an incredible start, the UK’s vaccination programme is now slowing down. Over 80 million doses have been administered, but more than 10% of the UK adult population still hasn’t been vaccinated. With COVID-19 cases once again rising, the question of how to boost vaccine uptake among the hesitant isContinue Reading
NIAID/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, recently announced that the delta variant is no longer of concern because it now comprises 98% of new cases in the country and is therefore “the normal variant”. This virus has spread to at least 90 countries andContinue Reading
Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific adviser, has announced that around 40% of people being admitted to hospital with COVID in the UK have been vaccinated. And according to the latest Public Health England data, around 15% of those being hospitalised have had two doses of a coronavirus vaccine.Continue Reading
England has now lifted nearly all of its coronavirus restrictions. Cases are high and rising, but the country’s vaccine coverage is among the best the world, meaning that the power of vaccines to control the virus will now be firmly put to the test. How will this battle play out?Continue Reading
Not quite what the science says. UfaBizPhoto/Shutterstock There’s a widespread belief that your testosterone can affect where you end up in life. At least for men, there is some evidence for this claim: several studies have linked higher testosterone to socioeconomic success. But a link is different to a causeContinue Reading
The UK has been through two large waves of COVID-19 and is currently in the middle of a third. Yet despite cases being high, both scientists and politicians are cautiously optimistic that the worst of the pandemic is behind the UK. At the same time, it needs to be recognisedContinue Reading
Olga Soloveva/Shutterstock You may have seen the before-and-after-lockdown photos of major cities that appear to show dramatic changes in air quality. In one, the India Gate war memorial in New Delhi is barely visible amid the smog. Then, during lockdown, it’s clearly visible in its red Bharatpur stone grandness. GettingContinue Reading
