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      Long Covid may be nothing unique in the future – but its effects today are still very real | Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 7 days ago - 23:00 · 1 minute

    While the long-term risk from a current infection is 10 times less than it was in 2020-21, a lot of people are still suffering after getting Covid early in the pandemic

    Long Covid is one of the most controversial topics remaining about the pandemic. Depending on who you ask, it is either a real and current threat to the health of the globe, or a relatively minor issue that we should pay little attention to in the future. It is hard to weigh in on the topic without passionate advocates taking issue with the things that you say, which is true of quite a lot of the conversations we have had over the course of the pandemic.

    A recent study from Queensland has injected further discord into this already complicated space. The press release about the study says that, in a large observational study, people who had tested positive for Covid-19 when the Omicron variant was spreading were no more likely to report ongoing symptoms or serious problems in their daily life than either people who tested negative or those who tested positive for influenza. This follows similar previous work by the same team showing almost identical results. According to Dr John Gerrard, one of the authors of the paper and Queensland’s chief health officer, the findings call into question the entire conceptualisation of long Covid, arguing that it may be “time to stop using terms like ‘long Covid’” .

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      Young and old: how the Covid pandemic has affected every UK generation

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Thursday, 21 March - 05:00

    From children behind on milestones to less active older people, broader effects are being felt four years after the initial outbreak

    In March 2020, the pandemic closed in like a fog, ushering in a strange new vocabulary, alarming statistics and the fear of illness and death. In the days before the first national lockdown was ordered, the government’s chief scientific adviser suggested that a “good outcome” would be keeping UK deaths below 20,000, a number that sounded improbably awful at the time, but which has been dwarfed by the 233,791 deaths recorded as of December 2023.

    The direct effects of the Covid-19 virus have been profound and continue to be felt, including by those with long Covid. But four years on, the UK is also reeling from the broader health impacts of the pandemic. Babies and children appear to have suffered developmental setbacks due to lengthy periods of isolation. Access to healthcare continues to be affected. Older people, who needed protecting most from Covid, were also uniquely vulnerable to the effects of physical inactivity. For some individuals, the pandemic prompted a rethink of priorities and provided new opportunities that paved the way for a healthier life.

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      People with hypermobility may be more prone to long Covid, study suggests

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Tuesday, 19 March - 22:30

    People with excessive flexibility 30% more likely to say they had not fully recovered from Covid, research finds

    People with excessively flexible joints may be at heightened risk of long Covid and persistent fatigue , research suggests.

    Hypermobility is where some or all of a person’s joints have an unusually large range of movement due to differences in the structure of their connective tissues that support, protect and give structure to organs, joints and other tissues.

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      More young people being radicalised online, says UK counter-terror officer

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 18 March - 17:58


    Senior detective warns children are accessing extreme material as a result of lockdowns, after a 20-year-old was jailed on Monday

    A senior counter-terrorism officer has warned that children and young people are increasingly being radicalised online after spending long periods on the internet during the pandemic.

    Det Supt Andy Meeks said a growing number of vulnerable people were accessing extreme material after spending hours unsupervised online.

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      Visitors to UK attractions increasing but still below pre-Covid levels

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 18 March - 06:00

    Figures show many still ‘out of the habit’ of visiting museums, galleries, cathedrals, castles and country houses

    Visitor numbers to the UK’s museums, galleries, cathedrals, zoos, castles and country houses are increasing but remain stubbornly below pre-pandemic levels, with a significant number of people still “out of the habit” of having a day out.

    Figures released by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) on Monday show a mixed picture. On the bright side, there was a 19% increase in visitor numbers in 2023 compared with 2022. The British Museum saw a 42% rise, making it the most visited attraction in the UK.

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      Time to stop using term ‘long Covid’ for symptoms like those after flu, study finds

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Friday, 15 March - 00:17

    Queensland research’s lead author says thinking longer-term Covid symptoms are unique can create hypervigilance and impede recovery

    Long Covid may be no different from other post-viral syndromes such as those experienced after flu, according to new research from Queensland Health.

    The lead author of the study, the state’s chief health officer Dr John Gerrard, said it was “time to stop using terms like ‘long Covid’” because they imply there is something unique about the longer-term symptoms associated with the virus, and in some cases create hypervigilance for them which can impede recovery.

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      Growth of gulf between rich and poor countries ‘recipe for much darker future’, says UN

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Wednesday, 13 March - 16:00

    Human development report finds the pandemic, conflict, globalisation and populism have combined to disproportionately affect lower-income countries

    The gulf between rich and poor countries continues to grow, according to the UN, furthering the reversal of a 20-year trend where the gap steadily shrank until 2020.

    The latest human development report found that although each of the 38 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries has recovered from the Covid pandemic, only half of the least-developed countries have done so.

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      Covid vaccines cut risk of virus-related heart failure and blood clots, study finds

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Tuesday, 12 March - 23:30

    Researchers say jabs substantially reduce for up to a year the chances of serious cardiovascular complications

    Covid vaccinations substantially reduce the risk of heart failure and potentially dangerous blood clots linked to the infection for up to a year, according to a large study.

    Researchers analysed health records from more than 20 million people across the UK, Spain and Estonia and found consistent evidence that the jabs protected against serious cardiovascular complications of the disease.

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      Covid bereaved accuse former Welsh health minister of incompetence

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 11 March - 16:06

    Families say Vaughan Gething’s ‘arrogance is astonishing’ after he reveals loss of WhatsApp messages

    Bereaved families who lost loved ones to Covid have accused the former Welsh health minister of incompetence and arrogance after he revealed that all his WhatsApp messages from the time had been lost.

    Vaughan Gething, who is standing to be the next Welsh first minister , said the messages had been a way of “blowing off steam” rather than being used to make government decisions but said he was embarrassed they had vanished.

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