The 100-day challenge, to be able to contain a virus while a vaccine is approved, manufactured and delivered, looks ever more remote

Four years on from the first Covid lockdown, life feels to be largely back to normal, although legacies of the pandemic remain. Collective amnesia seems to have set in. Politicians seem eager to move forward and not relive the decisions, delays and deaths that characterised public policy and press briefings. Yet we can’t forget such a brutal event, when Covid is estimated to have killed nearly 16 million people worldwide in 2020 and 2021, and caused life expectancy to decline in 84% of countries, including Britain. Pandemics aren’t a one-off event. There’s still a risk of another happening within our lifetimes.

Fortunately, what to do about the next pandemic is still very much at the top of the global health agenda. In 2021, I was asked to co-chair the US National Academy of Sciences’ committee on advancing pandemic and seasonal influenza vaccine preparedness and response . This group was sponsored by the US government to provide recommendations on how to improve preparedness for influenza, which is seen as one of the most likely candidates for the next pandemic. I was also involved with the Lancet Covid-19 taskforce , which brought together global experts to look at how to improve on the Covid response, and what challenges there were going forward. These groups represent some of the world’s best thinkers on global health and pandemic preparedness. Here’s what I learned.

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

Continue reading...

New research findings are contrary to what had previously been thought about pandemic’s effect on children’s wellbeing

Teenage boys were hit hardest by the Covid lockdowns, with their mental health failing to recover despite the return to normality, according to the most comprehensive academic study of its kind.

Early research into how lockdown affected children indicated that girls had suffered more significant mental health problems than boys.

Continue reading...

How much can you remember about something so recent that dominated everybody’s lives, and yet can feel like a distant past?

It is four years since the first UK national Covid lockdown. For the many people who lost loved ones or those whose lives were indelibly changed by contracting Covid it was a life-defining event. And everybody in the UK lived through pandemic times that will always mark a distinct chapter in their lives.

But events from four years ago can sometimes seem both incredibly close and at the same time like a whole other world. Take our quiz to see how much you remember from something so recent that dominated everybody’s lives, and yet can already feel like a distant past.

Continue reading...

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

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails , free app or daily news podcast

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’” .

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

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

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
• Get our morning and afternoon news emails , free app or daily news podcast

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.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...