Dr's Casebook: Covid cases rising again so don't be complacent

Dr Keith Souter writes: We had both been very fortunate to have avoided catching it until now. All through the time I was vaccinating I was of course scrupulous about washing hands, sanitising and wearing masks. As conditions were relaxed I continued with the precautions about coughing into the elbow, not touching the face, sanitising whenever it was advised and just generally being careful.

But travelling on trains, the tube in London and going to the cinema and theatre there is always still a risk. As the country has been returning to some sort of normality, there is a tendency to become complacent, especially if you have kept up with the vaccines.

It was interesting to monitor how Covid affected us both. We actually experienced quite different symptoms. My wife lost her sense of smell and taste, while I did not. She had headache, while I experienced muscles pains instead. The lack of energy was the most noticeable feature we both experienced, but fortunately it did not last long.

There is no doubt that because we had all the vaccines that were made available to us through the vaccination programme that our experience of infection with Covid was relatively quite mild in comparison to that of friends who had it earlier during the pandemic.

Essentially, it was no worse than having a bad cold for a few days. But I emphasise, we were fortunate because that is certainly not the case for everyone. For people in high risk groups it is still a potentially dangerous condition.

The fact is that the case numbers of Covid are again rising. The latest data from the Office of National Statistics shows that this includes an increase in the number of hospitalisations and deaths related to Covid. It is very important, therefore, not to be complacent.

The risk is further increased if one gets flu at the same time as Covid, so I would urge everyone to have both the Covid booster and the flu vaccine if it is available to you.