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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02 Dec 2020

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

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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26 Nov 2020

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

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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25 Nov 2020

Self-confessed "clinical trials geek" Dr Mark Toshner discusses the fast-tracking of coronavirus vaccine development for the Conversation.

25 Nov 2020

Dr Flavio Toxvaerd, an expert on the economics of infectious disease, discusses people's incentives to self-protect now vaccines appear imminent for...

Man sat looking out of a window at a giant representation of COVID-19. Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Cambridge Dictionary names 'quarantine’ Word of the Year 2020

24 Nov 2020

‘Quarantine’ has defeated 'lockdown' and 'pandemic' to be crowned Word of the Year 2020 after data showed it to be one of the most highly searched...

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18 Nov 2020

Engineering PhD candidate Eugenia O’Kelly discusses her recent research on fabric testing to find the most effective face mask materials.

Library life in the time of COVID

17 Nov 2020

What happens when you are a librarian without a library? This is exactly what happened with husband and wife Veronica Phillips, Assistant Librarian...

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Beyond the pandemic: focus on productivity to make everyone better off

16 Nov 2020

There is no way out of the immediate economic hit of a pandemic, says Professor Diane Coyle, but to heal social fractures, we must focus on giving...

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Transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, isolated from a patient

Cambridge-led SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance consortium receives £12.2 million

16 Nov 2020

̽»¨Ö±²¥COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium has been backed by the Department for Health and Social Care Testing Innovation Fund to expand whole...

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11 Nov 2020

Sociologist Dr Olga Löblová looks at how a country went from being praised for its early response to COVID-19 to topping global charts of infection...

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