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Health Check: Covid-19 in Italy

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An elderly couple wearing protective masks walk in Milan

2020/04/22 GMT

Covid-19 in Italy

BBC World Service - Health Check, Covid-19 in Italy

Covid-19 in Italy; loneliness in lockdown; repurposing existing drugs to treat Covid-19

Italy is one country which had hospitals in some regions overwhelmed by the spike in cases just a few weeks ago. Claudia talks to John Ioannidis, Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Population Health at Stanford University about his analysis of what the rest of the world can learn from Italy’s experience.

Many people living in lockdown will be feeling isolated. One of the academics who led the recent BBC Loneliness Experiment, Professor Pamela Qualter with her colleague from the University of Manchester in the UK Dr Margarita Panayiotou, explain how they are studying loneliness and mental health during the pandemic. 

Trials have already begun of some drugs which sound promising as treatments for Covid-19. But Dr Lindsay Broadbent and her team at Queens University Belfast have a different approach. They are testing more than a thousand existing drugs on human lung cells infected with Covid-19 in the lab to see what might work for both mild and severe infections.  

Family doctor Dr Ann Robinson joins Claudia to talk about moving patient appointments online and social distancing during religious festivals such as Easter, Passover and Ramadan.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond 
Producer: Paula McGrath

(Image: An elderly couple wearing protective masks walk in Milan during the country's lockdown. Photo credit: Miguel  Medina/AFP/Getty Images.)

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