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.

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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A clinician helping a COVID-19 patient with an oxygen mask in a hospital in Iran

World first for AI and machine learning to treat COVID-19 patients worldwide

15 Sep 2021

Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge along with 20 other hospitals from across the world and healthcare technology leader, NVIDIA, have used...

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visualisation of the Covid-19 virus

Spread of Delta SARS-CoV-2 variant driven by combination of immune escape and increased infectivity

06 Sep 2021

Findings suggest infection control measures against variants will need to continue in the post-vaccination era.

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Patient receives Covid-19 vaccine

Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant were more likely to be admitted to hospital compared to patients with Alpha variant

31 Aug 2021

Largest study to date analysing more than 40,000 COVID-19 cases finds a two-fold increased risk of hospitalisation from delta versus alpha variant...

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Mink farm

Farmed carnivores may become ‘disease reservoirs’ posing human health risk

24 Aug 2021

Carnivorous animals lack key genes needed to detect and respond to infection by pathogens, a study has found.

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Coronavirus

Hospital-acquired COVID-19 tends to be picked up from other patients, not from healthcare workers

24 Aug 2021

The majority of patients who contracted COVID-19 while in hospital did so from other patients rather than from healthcare workers, concludes a new...

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Overworked woman

Heads reveal how ‘overwhelming’ Government guidance held schools back as COVID hit

05 Aug 2021

Headteachers and school leaders have described how an ‘avalanche’ of confused and shifting Government guidance severely impeded schools during the...

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Heart

Lab-grown beating heart cells identify potential drug to prevent COVID-19-related heart damage

05 Aug 2021

Cambridge scientists have grown beating heart cells in the lab and shown how they are vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection. In a study published in...

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Tired looking woman

Biological ‘fingerprints’ of long COVID in blood could lead to diagnostic test, say Cambridge scientists

19 Jul 2021

Markers in our blood – ‘fingerprints’ of infection – could help identify individuals who have been infected by SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that...

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Should you ditch your mask once restrictions are lifted? A philosopher’s view

16 Jul 2021

Stephen John, lecturer in Philosophy of Public Health, asks whether catching a bus without a mask on closer to riding a bike or punching a stranger.


Generation COVID: pregnancy, birth and postnatal life in the pandemic

15 Jul 2021

Developmental psychologist Sarah Lloyd-Fox looks at experiences of pregnancy and birth during the pandemic for The Conversation.

Graphical representation of COVID-19 and network analysis

Scientists identify 160 new drugs that could be repurposed against COVID-19

30 Jun 2021

Cambridge scientists have identified 200 approved drugs predicted to work against COVID-19 – of which only 40 are currently being tested in COVID-19...

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Healthcare worker wearing FFP3 mask

Upgrading PPE for staff working on COVID-19 wards cut hospital-acquired infections dramatically

29 Jun 2021

When Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge upgraded its face masks for staff working on COVID-19 wards to filtering face piece 3 (FFP3) respirators, it...

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