We speak to Professor Liam Smeeth, who is the Dean of the Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health at LSHTM, and also a practising GP in north London. As cases spread across Europe, Prof Smeeth discusses what it's like on the frontlines of UK healthcare, the value of the NHS, and also shares his recent experiences in self-isolation.

Broadcast on 5 March 2020, we ran a live Q&A session with two of our outbreak experts, Professor Jimmy Whitworth and Dr Roz Eggo. Jimmy and Roz answer on a range of topics proposed by the audience including vaccines, current public health measures at the time, school closures, transmission rates and travel advice. To watch the video go to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dwQkWqWHcw

In this episode we speak to Annelies Wilder-Smith, Professor of Emerging Infectious Disease at LSHTM. With a team of scientists, she has just published a paper on the success and failures of quarantining the Diamond Princess cruise ship, with their research showing earlier evacuation we could have prevented hundreds of passengers and crew becoming infected, and what this means for other countries and their policies going forward. We'll be answering your questions on COVID19 LIVE Thursday 5th March 12:30 : bit.ly/3cxmX84

In a special behind-the-scenes episode, we here at LSHTM share what it is actually like to be working on communications during COVID-19.  James Barr, Media Manager of LSHTM’s Press Office, takes us through a day in the life of a PR professional during a global outbreak, explains the critical role of university press offices in linking academics to the media when there is such high demand for experts, and describes how the global network of communications professionals are all working hard to ensure accurate information is being shared.

Misinformation during an outbreak has serious consequences, but how do we prevent it? Professor Heidi Larson, Director of Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and former head of immunisation communication at UNICEF discusses public trust in science and how this is effecting COVID-19 outbreak control. She also talks about wider issues of public health communication including the role of social media, schools and the introduction of new vaccines.

There are now daily reports in the media of racist abuse and attacks against Chinese and East Asian people due to the coronavirus outbreak. We speak to LSHTM statistician Edmond Ng and Jabez Lam from Hackney Chinese Community Services about the experiences of London’s Chinese community, LSHTM student Kazuki Shimizu reflects on the situation in Japan, and LSHTM social scientist Leesa Lin looks at the evidence on discrimination and disease outbreaks. For anyone affected by racist attacks as a result of COVID-19, information and support is available at https://bit.ly/3bWqKLU. You can read Kazuki’s correspondence to The Lancet at https://bit.ly/39SqyLT. Please keep sending your questions about the science behind the outbreak to [email protected].

Can we protect ourselves from COVID-19? Dr Shunmay Yeung is a paediatrician who specialises in infectious diseases, and was one of the first LSHTM responders to the Ebola outbreak in 2014. Here, she discusses personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers during outbreaks, advice for how the public can best protect themselves, and why children don’t seem to be affected by COVID-19.

Having worked with the WHO for more than 22 years, David Heymann is renowned as one of the world’s leading disease control experts. In a wide-ranging chat, David discusses the global response to COVID-19, the challenges faced by policymakers and his experiences of dealing with outbreaks.

Dr Adam Kucharski talks us through mathematical modelling – what it is and its crucial role during disease outbreaks like the novel coronavirus. He also explores the implications of using certain language during outbreaks, and answers a question from one of our listeners. To discover LSHTM’s latest modelling work visit https://cmmid.github.io/ncov.

We want to hear from you! Please get in touch by emailing [email protected] and let us know what you would like to hear on the podcast. Stay tuned for upcoming episodes with top outbreak-modeller Adam Kucharski and Professor David Heymann who led the WHO’s response to SARS in 2003.