It has now been six months since the first case of COVID-19 was announced in China. There are over 10.5 million infections worldwide, and tragically 500,000 deaths. We listen back to our very first episode with LSHTM's Prof John Edmunds in January, where he acknowledges the likelihood of the disease arriving in the UK, the  day before the first case was announced.

The way people act and behave inside health clinics can impact the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19, TB and Ebola. Understanding how this happens is essential for effective, long-lasting public health solutions. We speak to Alison Swartz, Aaron Karat and Karina Kielmann who work through a 'systems approach' that includes social science, anthropology and epidemiology in infection prevention control in South Africa. 

Efforts to curb the devastating effects of COVID-19 have halted the global economy and left governments striving to repair the damage. As we tackle the global recession in the wake of this pandemic, there’s a unique opportunity to push ahead on sustainable policies for our future. Sir Andy Haines, previous director of LSHTM and Professor of Environmental Change and Public Health explains how governments can put health and sustainability and the heart of our economic recovery. 

As the momentum behind Black Lives Matter and placing social justice before social distancing grows worldwide, we speak to Dr Lioba Hirsch, a Research Fellow  who is studying the colonial history of LSHTM. Dr Hirsch walks us through some of the challenges faced by Black, Asian, and minority ethnic people during COVID-19, what the impact of racism within healthcare systems looks like, and how we can start facing the legacy of colonialism in global health.

Amidst the tragic headlines, we look at highlights from our previous LSHTM Viral episodes to reflect on the global efforts to protect those most vulnerable to disease and health burdens.

In this episode we speak to Professor Beate Kampmann, Director of the The Vaccine Centre at LSHTM. We ask Beate about the latest progress in finding a vaccine for COVID-19 and discuss the challenges of producing one on such an enormous scale. Vaccine candidate tracker: bit.ly/2BbkJ09

Medical detection dogs have previously been able to sniff out malaria, cancer, Parkinson's, and other disease. Could they now be trained to detect COVID-19? Prof James Logan of LSHTM discusses the current research under way with Clare Guest of Medical Detection Dogs and Prof Steve Lindsay of Durham University, and how puppers may be deployed at airports and other ports of entry to identify people carrying the disease. 

In his first interview since being hospitalised with COVID-19, LSHTM Director and world-leading virologist Peter Piot gives a personal account of his experience with the novel coronavirus. He shares lessons learned from his work on Ebola and HIV, the role of survivors in the COVID-19 response, and his renewed mission for tackling the pandemic.

Broadcast on 1 May, we ran a third live Q&A session with two of our infectious disease modelling experts, Professor John Edmunds and Dr Petra Klepac of LSHTM. John and Petra answer on a range of topics proposed by the audience including how modelling provides evidence to COVID-19 policy, modelling the lockdown exit in the UK, ideal data sets and limitations of modelling an outbreak. To watch the livestream go to: https://twitter.com/LSHTM/status/1256181729171329024?s=20

Without their social networks and the same understanding of the pandemic as adults, children may be struggling with their mental health and well-being during COVID-19. Professor James Logan from LSHTM has recently co-authored a book with illustrator Lydia Monk to help children and parents cope with coronavirus, and together with child psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos, discusses how to manage these challenges at home.