BBC health journalist Laura Foster can’t get the first days of the pandemic out of her head; the stunned silence of the newsroom as the first lockdown was announced, the chaos and noise at the supermarket and the empty streets of London.
But even though she was a reporter covering every twist and turn of the story, she still can’t remember the first time she heard about long Covid.
The world was so engrossed by the immediate threat that few paid attention to what was happening around the edges; the people whose lives didn’t move on after that little red line disappeared from their test and whose symptoms never went away.
And that problem was getting bigger and bigger by the day.
We visit the UK’s very first long Covid clinic where healthcare workers started learning about this life-shattering disease in the hospital car park - and we find out why recovering from long Covid is a lot like training for the Olympics.
What did we know back then – and what do we know now? And are we really any closer to seeing the end of long Covid?
Details of organisations offering information and support with long Covid are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.
Presenter: Laura Foster Producer: Gerry Holt Editor: Martin Smith Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris
Flu, Cow's milk allergy, Robotic pharmacy
Medical detection dogs
Antibiotics, Statins and Pneumonia, Neurosurgery for Epilepsy
Dr Google; Sexual orientation and the NHS; Hypermobility; Surgery for COPD
Vaginal mesh; alcohol and the heart
Big baby birth trial, Uveitis, Telephone triage, Burns
Scoliosis, Depression, Pets in Hospital, Eustachian Tubes
Addiction services; Schizophrenia; Hearts and cancer
Breast density; Health education; Switching outcomes
Antibiotics, Lung Cancer, Dying of a Broken Heart, Gender Bias
PPIs, Aspirin and cancer, Radiotherapy and smoking
Hepatitis B vaccine, Sheds, Obesity Paradox, Taking part in clinical trials
Robo-docs, using AI to diagnose; Pancreatic cancer; Statins and muscle aches
High costs of cheap medicines, Can a simple blood test help identify cancer, undescended testes, Aspirin
Cholesterol-lowering drug, Defibrillators, Post-traumatic stress disorder and heart disease, Lack of drugs in pregnancy
Bisphosphonates, IBS and diet, CRP test for infection, Randomisation
Opt-out organ donation; your body after death; what time of day to take blood pressure medication
Smoking in pregnancy; Lifestyle targets; Thyroid cancer; Flossing
Vitamin D, Air Ambulance blood trial, Phantom limb pain, Sitting-rising test
NHS Special: What needs to give?
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