PublicHealthMatters 
A year ago today we launched the world’s biggest real-world study into Covid-19 antibodies. As infections soared around the world, we set up the SIREN study to start looking for answers to some of the most important questions about reinfection and the impact of antibodies. In the past year SIREN has carried out 519,465 PCR … Read more
In the weeks following the full re-opening of schools, COVID-19 outbreaks linked to school settings and cases among school age cohorts have remained low and broadly reflected what is happening in the wider community. As 9 million pupils across the country returned to face-to-face education in March, we saw only a very small increase in … Read more
International Nurses Day takes place every year on the birthdate of Florence Nightingale, the 12th May, providing a platform to celebrate the significant role that nursing colleagues play across the globe. However, this year’s celebration feels different from those that I have taken part in previous years for so many reasons. Firstly, we must acknowledge … Read more
The COVID-19 vaccination programme is the biggest to have ever taken place in the UK. Over 48 million doses have now been administered, which is estimated to have prevented over 10,400 deaths in England up to the end of March. Recently, there have been reports of an extremely rare condition involving blood clots with low … Read more
In late November last year, epidemiologists began noticing some unusual patterns in the spread of COVID-19 in the South East of England. A national lockdown had been in place since the start of the month, yet despite initial drop offs, cases in parts of Kent, Essex and London had started to increase again. The problem … Read more
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to communicate information to the general public clearly and through trusted sources has been paramount to saving lives. Providing timely information about case rates, local and national restrictions, testing, safety advice and vaccines has been, and continues to be, vital in broadening the wider public understanding and ensuring everyone … Read more
Public Health England has released provisional estimates of life expectancy at birth for 2020 to show the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in England and its regions. Despite their name, these estimates of life expectancy at birth are not in fact projections or predictions of how long babies born in 2020 can actually expect to … Read more
Coloured transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of a SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus particle isolated from a UK case of the disease Covid-19. Every day, rapid testing is helping us find cases of COVID-19 that we wouldn’t otherwise know about, breaking chains of transmission and potentially saving lives. We know that rapid tests are effective in detecting people that … Read more
On 22 February 2021, the Government published its ‘Roadmap out of Lockdown’ which set out how national coronavirus restrictions would be eased in stages, with reviews taking place on set dates. We passed the first milestone and changes to restrictions came on the 8th March, with the re-opening of schools and allowing people to meet … Read more
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact across population groups globally, nationally and locally. The effects of the pandemic have mirrored, and in some cases exacerbated, our entrenched health and social inequalities. Never has the interdependence between health and the economy been closer, or the need for a fairer and more inclusive economic system … Read more