How long does it take to be clear of coronavirus?

One of the mainstays of ­controlling Covid-19 has been isolation, a very old-fashioned and well-tried strategy for containing infectious ­diseases. Think of the fever ­hospitals where patients with contagious ­infections were incarcerated. My sister was one. She contracted scarlet fever … Read More

Why cancer care needs to be put back on the agenda

Covid-19 has made us change many of the expectations we took for granted in medicine. One of them is the way we approach cancer treatments. Because of coronavirus quite rightly taking the lion’s share of resources, some cancer treatments, including … Read More

Our test and trace system is a failure, warn experts

The headline published in the BMJ says it all. “Too slow and fundamentally flawed”. Our country’s test and trace ­programme is not fit for ­purpose, say public health experts. “I don’t believe the virus is under control, and I don’t … Read More

Track and trace is useless if we don’t pick up phone

The Government announced with fanfare and flourish that we’d have a world-beating test-track-trace programme up and running by June 1. Well, that date came and went, yet again a deadline missed through over-promising. The problem is no ­politician, and especially … Read More

How I was laid low by coronavirus – and survived

I’m Covid positive! That means that I’ve had a coronavirus infection and survived because my body responded to Covid-19 by ­manufacturing antibodies. Antibodies that neutralised the virus. The antibody test I had wasn’t the prick test but the hardcore blood … Read More