covid-19

More than 850,000 people have signed a petition calling for front-line NHS workers to be tested for coronavirus as a matter of priority. Junior doctor Rebecca McCauley started the petition to ensure that staff who have colds but not the virus could continue working - while those with Covid-19...

The NHS will offer to put nurses up in hotels if someone they live with develops coronavirus symptoms to allow them to continue to go to work rather than self-isolate. The scheme was announced today amid concerns about the impact new, strict isolation measures will have on staffing at a time of...

People with suspected coronavirus will soon be able to have a sick note issued digitally through NHS 111. Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a raft of measures in this year’s budget to support the NHS during the spread of Covid-19. Part of the £30 billion package was the automation of sick notes...

A new study in The Lancet medical journal published Wednesday found that the novel coronavirus lived in the respiratory tracts of some patients for more than five weeks. Some of the patients received antiviral medications but the drugs did not appear to shorten the virus's lifespan. The 19...

Herd immunity is a phrase normally used when large numbers of children have been vaccinated against a disease like measles, reducing the chances that others will get it. As a tactic in fighting a pandemic for which there is no vaccine, it is novel – and some say alarming. It relies on people...

"The worst bit is the uncontrollable coughing," says Andrew O'Dwyer, who is recovering after being infected with the new coronavirus following a skiing trip to Italy in late February. "I've had worse flu, without a doubt - but I wouldn't want to catch it again," he says during his...

The NHS is launching a new initiative to fight coronavirus misinformation, a day after the government announced its own DCMS-led counter-disinformation unit, as conspiracy theories continue to spread on social media and elsewhere. But, disinformation experts say, there remains little evidence...

I believe this is the 'go to' site for the most up to date statistics: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

The coronavirus epidemic plainly poses an exceptionally serious global problem: in a few short weeks, it has spread from China to more than 80 countries, infecting more than 100,000 people so far and causing more than 3,400 deaths. But as we are hit with minute-by-minute updates from around the...

Scores of retired NHS doctors and nurses have told the Guardian that they are against returning to work to help tackle coronavirus, with many saying it would threaten their physical and mental health. The government confirmed contingency plans on Tuesday to call back to work NHS “leavers and...

Coronavirus and the disease it causes, Covid-19, have dominated the headlines. Yet the range of expectations and predictions of its impacts have been so wide as to make clear understanding almost impossible. This is perhaps inevitable when we grapple with a fast-moving and previously unknown...

Urgent advice is being issued to Universal Credit claimants who may be affected by the spread of coronavirus. With the impact of the virus worsening in the UK and more people being urged to self-isolate, questions have been asked about how those claiming benefits may be affected if they are...

An overwhelming majority of doctors fear the NHS is not well prepared to deal with a major outbreak of coronavirus, a survey has found. More than 99% of 1,618 NHS medics questioned appear not to agree with the assurances given by Boris Johnson that the service will cope if it is hit by a surge...

At first blush, this Miami Herald story may seem like a report about a local guy who caught the flu. But the closer one looks, the more interesting it becomes. To his credit, Osmel Martinez Azcue recognized the public-health concerns about the coronavirus outbreak, and given his symptoms and...

Former health professionals could be brought out of retirement under emergency plans being considered by the government to combat the spread of coronavirus. News of the potential “Dad’s army” deployment comes as NHS bosses warn that the service will struggle if Covid-19 takes hold in Britain...

FROM JAMA The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has released the largest case series to date for novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), and a summary of key findings appears in JAMA. The virus, which spread from a single city to a whole country in only 30 days, has so far has...