Long Covid: solving the mysteries

Health Check discusses Long Covid with Nishi Chaturvedi, professor clinical epidemiology at University College London, and Dr Shamil Haroon, family doctor and public health researcher at the University of Birmingham. They’ve both begun big research projects on what Long Covid is, what causes it and how best to treat patients. We also hear from two people whose lives have transformed for the worse by the syndrome. Claudia talks to Professor Gagandeep Kang who has delivered a keynote talk at this week’s Commonwealth Science Conference. Her theme was how the world’s scientists were able to develop multiple coronavirus vaccines so quickly. She says the global health community were determined to learn the lessons from the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014 to 2016. Professor Kang is one of India’s leading vaccinologists, based at the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory at the Christian Medical College in Vellore. Claudia also asks her about the latest coronavirus infection rate in India and why the mortality rate has been much lower there than in many other countries. Dr Ann Robinson is Claudia’s guest of the week, talking about the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, how research on Long Covid may benefit many more than those who have it, and a ketamine nasal spray for the treatment of severe depression. Presenter: Claudia Hammond

Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker (Picture: Ill woman with purple face mask coughing, lying down and resting. Photo credit: Ruslan Dashinsky/Getty Images.)