Topic description and stories

Cambridge researchers have played a vital role in the fight back against COVID-19, from the use of genomics to track its spread and mathematic modelling to understand infection rates through to innovative screening programmes to keep its students and staff safe.

Intensive care unit at Addenbrooke's Hospital

Underactive immune response may explain obesity link to COVID-19 severity

20 March 2023

Individuals who are obese may be more susceptible to severe COVID-19 because of a poorer inflammatory immune response, say Cambridge scientists.

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Why I am in a higher priority group for a vaccine than younger people with chronic health conditions

10 Dec 2020

David Spiegelhalter is 67 and fit as a fiddle, so why is he in line to get the vaccine before younger but less healthy people? The top statistician...

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COVID vaccines focus on the spike protein – but here’s another target

10 Dec 2020

Dr Sarah Caddy discusses her research on the 'N protein' in viruses and the antibodies it triggers - an overlooked but potentially exciting vaccine...

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Beyond the pandemic: re-design our public health system

09 Dec 2020

COVID-19 has highlighted debilitating flaws in England’s public health systems decades in the making. Carol Brayne and John Clarkson from Cambridge...

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Child looking out of a window

Significant increase in depression seen among children during first lockdown

08 Dec 2020

The first lockdown led to a significant increase in symptoms of depression among children, highlighting the unintended consequences of school...

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Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2

Open-source toolkit helps developing countries meet demand for COVID-19 research and diagnostics

08 Dec 2020

Researchers have developed a free, open-source toolkit that allows laboratories in developing countries to produce their own tools for COVID-19...

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In Ethiopia, schools still lack basic means to contain COVID-19, as pupils return after months of interrupted learning

07 Dec 2020

Many schools in Ethiopia lack the hygiene facilities and infrastructure to control COVID-19 effectively, as they reopen for the first time after...

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A city's pandemic

03 Dec 2020

Cambridge University Library’s collaboration with the people of Cambridge brings to light the experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic in the city.

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“We couldn’t just turn off and go home”  

02 Dec 2020

For many people, COVID-19 has meant remote working, but some jobs just have to be done in person. We meet the the technicians, gardeners, porters and...

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COVID-19 has exacerbated soaring problem debt levels in the UK

02 Dec 2020

Dr Mia Gray looks at how the pandemic is exacerbating inequalities already entrenched by austerity for the Guardian.

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A lone walker in a shopping district of Leeds, UK, during lockdown.

No country ‘immune’ to COVID-19 economic shock, but Asian nations will bounce back faster

02 Dec 2020

Study uses 40 years of quarterly data to forecast a lengthy global recession resulting from coronavirus, with the manufacturing bases of China and...

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Those who tell us what to do during the pandemic must earn our trust

26 Nov 2020

Writing for the Guardian, Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter calls for greater focus on trustworthiness when communicating science and statistics during...

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Beyond the pandemic: overhaul back-to-work policies to protect mental health

25 Nov 2020

Dr Adam Coutts, an expert in labour market interventions, discusses three policy options for responding to the unemployment crisis caused by the...

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