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Reflecting on a year responding to COVID-19

At this time of year many of us stop to reflect. The past two years have been hard on us all, the world as we know it changed forever. Like the vast majority of people, physical and social isolation were the biggest challenge for me. I saw very few people for months...

Long read: winter vaccination for inclusion health groups

This blog has been produced by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and NHS England and Improvement (NHSEI). It highlights the unequal impact of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza (flu) on people from inclusion...

Staying safe over the festive period

Christmas and New Year are special times when people come together. These social occasions are important, and we all want to spend time with friends and family. The emergence of the Omicron variant has served as a stark reminder that the pandemic is not over. Cases of...

What Does COVID-19 look like in your area?

Every day at 4pm  the latest coronavirus data – setting out daily cases, testing and vaccination levels, as well as deaths and hospitalisations – is published on the COVID-19 Dashboard. In addition to reporting UK and national data, the Dashboard...

COVID-19 vaccination programme: development, distribution, data

The COVID-19 vaccination programme relies on many teams, individuals and organisations, from the scientists who developed the vaccines through to the volunteers who have signed up to support the programme and the NHS staff on the front line. The success of the...

Investigating Omicron: what UKHSA is doing now

Last month, a new variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 infection named Omicron was identified and countries around the world are taking action to identify cases and outbreaks and control the spread while we learn more. All viruses naturally change and evolve over...

Five years of the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team

The UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST) was created five years ago after the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014-16 to support Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) to prepare for and respond to public health outbreaks. In those five years, the team...

Charting a course to end HIV transmission in England by 2030

On World Aids Day 2021, a new Action Plan has been published to move towards ending HIV transmission, AIDS and HIV-related deaths in England by 2030. In January 2019 the government committed to this bold ambition and the four-year plan, developed by the Office for...