Ill health and loneliness are 'lasting' effects of Covid five years after first lockdown

New figures suggest people's experiences of poor health and loneliness have not improved five years on from the first Covid19 lockdown.

- AINE FOX

The proportion of people in Britain reporting good or very good health has declined slowly but steadily since March 2020, while the percentage of those saying they feel lonely often or some of the time has remained broadly unchanged, according to analysis of data from the Office for National Statistics.

The survey – carried out regularly over the past five years among a sample of individuals aged 16 and over in England, Scotland and Wales – aimed to trace people’s experiences of wellbeing and loneliness in the period since the first lockdown.

Responding to the findings, Royal Society for Public Health chief executive William Roberts said the data “comes as no surprise” as the “lasting” effects of the pandemic continue to leave “many people isolated”.

Yesterday was the UK’s annual Covid Day of Reflection, five years after the first coronavirus lockdown was introduced across the country, imposing widespread restrictions on travelling, socialising and leisure activities in the face of a rising number of infections and deaths.

The data shows that: