richard westcott reports.y dying from the disease met last summer. . , ., summer. three cheers for nigel! leavin: summer. three cheers for nigel! leaving hospital— summer. three cheers for nigel! leaving hospital was _ summer. three cheers for nigel! leaving hospital was a _ summer. three cheers for nigel! leaving hospital was a high - summer. three cheers for nigel! | leaving hospitalwas a high point, leaving hospital was a high point, but months later, he's still suffering. but months later, he's still suffering-— but months later, he's still sufferinu. , , , ., ,, suffering. doing my best and upper body strength. _ suffering. doing my best and upper body strength, haven't _ suffering. doing my best and upper body strength, haven't got - suffering. doing my best and upper body strength, haven't got that - suffering. doing my best and upper body strength, haven't got that any more _ body strength, haven't got that any more. ., ., , , body strength, haven't got that any more. ., .,, , ., ., body strength, have

here's our science correspondent, richard westcott.covid. if you have tested positive, there's a chance a little bit of your virus ended up in one of these machines. having its genetic fingerprint taken. they read all the dna of each individual virus, known as its genome. the virus genome is much smaller than the human genome, maybe about 100,000 times smaller. and every these machines is able to look at 1500 samples every 2a hours. there are 20 of these machines and they are working 2a hours a day, seven days a week. starting from scratch a year ago, they've set up by far the biggest genome monitoring system in the world. going from 90 covid test samples in week one, to 20,000 per week today. from all over the uk. you've been doing this for a year, you are one of the key people who set it all up in the first place. what was it like back then? it was absolutely crazy. it was all new to us and how we could do it and also the pressure and importance of it certainly weighed on my shoulders. this is how they spotted the more infectious ken

here�*s our science correspondent richard westcott.achines, and they are working 2a hours a day, seven days a week. starting from scratch a year ago, they�*ve set up by far the biggest genome monitoring system in the world, going from 90 covid test samples in week one, to 20,000 a week today from all over the uk. you�*ve been doing this for a year. you were one of the key people set it all up in the first place. what was it like back then? it was absolutely crazy. it was all very new to us and how we could do it, and also the pressure and the importance of it, certainly weighed on our shoulders. this is how they spotted the more infectious kent variant that swept britain. why is speed so important to this process? the sooner that we�*ve identified that that positive case was actually a variant of concern, the sooner the action can be taken to to further identify the individual�*s contacts, test them, surge testing and make sure that that hasn�*t got the opportunity to spread further. there are thousands of different types of the sars—c

who are re—admitted to hospital following treatment for the disease. 0ur science correspondent richard westcottjust because they've been discharged. ambulance driver nigel�*s been nicknamed the "miracle man" by his daughters after nearly dying from the disease last summer. _by —— by his doctors. three cheers for nigel, hip hip! hooray! hip hip! hooray! leaving hospital was a high point. but months later, he's still suffering. can't walk very far, but i do my best. upper body strength — where i used to have that, i haven't got that any more. you tire easily, don't you? have an afternoon nap? yeah. you've got your stomach problem. yeah, ulceritis, colitis. the mental health, ptsd side of it. mood swings. yeah. i had covid, i lost smell. this is long _ i had covid, i lost smell. this is long covid — i had covid, i lost smell. this is long covid because it's affected his life. this increasingly common long—term damage is why cambridge researchers are launching a new uk—wide drugs trial. led by a doctor who pushed all the paperwork and raise the money in between shifts on intensive care. hi, charlot

country and they have all kinds of interesting ways to keep it safe. 0ur science correspondent richard westcottng can escape. we couldn't go right inside so the scientists offered to do some filming for us. by growing the virus and deliberately infecting human cells, they are trying to answer key questions like how does it attack us and what drugs stop it growing? there's an air lock here between me and sara but hopefully we can talk over the intercom. hi, sara. can you hear me? yes, i can hear you. what's it like working in a lab like that all day and all the ppe and working with sars covid? it can be quite intimidating at the beginning. but i have to say after being trained properly it's really safe to actually be working here. and do you sometimes sort of look at the petri dish and say, wow, that is the virus that's brought the world to a halt? i mean, does it make you kind of gasp sometimes? it actually does. it feels like we have a huge responsibility and everything we are doing is extremely important for global health. their work is producing stunning images. this is what it has all been

number of people who are re—admitted to hospital following treatment. 0ur science correspondent richard westcottause they have been discharged. ambulance driver, nigel, has been nicknamed the miracle man by his doctors after nearly dying from the disease last summer. . , ., summer. three cheers for nigel... leavin: summer. three cheers for nigel... leaving hospital— summer. three cheers for nigel... leaving hospital was _ summer. three cheers for nigel... leaving hospital was a _ summer. three cheers for nigel... leaving hospital was a high - summer. three cheers for nigel... leaving hospitalwas a high point, | leaving hospital was a high point, but months later he is still suffering. t but months later he is still suffering-— but months later he is still sufferinu. �* . ~' , . suffering. i can't walk very far, but i do suffering. i can't walk very far, but i do my — suffering. i can't walk very far, but i do my best. _ suffering. i can't walk very far, but i do my best. half- suffering. i can't walk very far, but i do my best. half the - suffering. i can't walk very far, | but i do my best. hal

here's our science correspondent, richard westcott.netic fingerprint taken. they read all the dna of each individual virus, known as its genome. the virus genome is much smaller than the human genome, maybe about 100,000 times smaller. and every one of these machines is able to look at 1,500 samples every 2a hours. there are 20 of these machines, and they are working 2a hours a day, seven days a week. starting from scratch a year ago, they've set up by far the biggest genome monitoring system in the world, going from 90 covid test samples in week one, to 20,000 a week today from all over the uk. you've been doing this for a year. you were one of the key people set it all up in the first place. what was it like back then? it was absolutely crazy. it was all very new to us and how we could do it, and also the pressure and the importance of it, certainly weighed on our shoulders. this is how they spotted the more infectious kent variant that swept britain. why is speed so important to this process? the sooner that we've identified that th

our science correspondent richard westcott reports.lf a million uk people in hospital so far. most survive but the disease doesn't relinquish its grip just because they've been discharged. ambulance driver nigel has been nicknamed the miracle man by his doctors after nearly dying from the disease last summer. three cheers for nigel. hip hip... hooray. hip hip. hooray. leaving hospital was a high point but months later, he's still suffering. i can't walk very far but i do my best. upper body strength, no worries about that. haven't got that any more. you tire easy, don't you? have an afternoon nap. you've got your stomach problem. yeah. ulcerated colitis. the mental health ptsd side of it, mood swings. i had covid. i still have loss of smell. to me, that's nothing. i don't class that as long covid, that'sjust how it is. this is long covid because it's affecting his life. this increasingly common long—term damage is why cambridge researchers are launching a new, uk—wide drugs trial, led by a doctor, who pushed through all the paperwork a

here's our science correspondent richard westcott.e the faulty gene then all of a sudden you can see appearance of these blobs in the tissue. this is not supposed to be there. it does look totally different. so that blotchiness is effectively the beginnings of cancer? yes, these structures that will develop towards cancer. five in every thousand people have this faulty gene, finding out leaves women with a binary choice, risk getting ill or have your breasts removed. eleanor howie had a preventative double mastectomy after her mum and aunt got cancer in their 30s. she has set up a lingerie business in kings lynn for cancer survivors. i really felt at the time, given there was no realistic screening for me, that my option really was to go ahead and take preventative measures. if the landscape is different and if women have access to reliable way of screening, and catching precancerous changes then i think that may well change decisions for people. funded by cancer research uk the long—term goal here is a blood test giving women much be

our science correspondent richard westcott reports.heers for denying j joel! -- for nigel! leaving hospital was a hiuh joel! -- for nigel! leaving hospital was a high point — joel! -- for nigel! leaving hospital was a high point but _ joel! -- for nigel! leaving hospital was a high point but months i joel! -- for nigel! leaving hospital was a high point but months later, j was a high point but months later, he's still suffering. i was a high point but months later, he's still suffering.— he's still suffering. i will be fine and do my _ he's still suffering. i will be fine and do my best,, _ he's still suffering. i will be fine and do my best,, i _ he's still suffering. i will be fine and do my best,, i don't - he's still suffering. i will be fine and do my best,, i don't have i he's still suffering. i will be fine i and do my best,, i don't have upper and do my best,, idon't have upper body— and do my best,, i don't have upper body strength... you and do my best,, i don't have upper body strength. . .— body strength... you tired or eas

our science correspondent richard westcott went to see.e doing is extremely important for global health. their work is producing stunning images. this is what it has all been about. that tiny blob is a close—up of the sars cov2 virus. you could fit around 10 million of these onto a full stop in a newspaper. this is what it does. it is a mass of infected cells. the red is the virus. and here, the blue, healthy cells are taken over by the virus in green. this is after eight hours. this, after a day. and now look at it after two days. well, we can answer questions here that you can�*t answer any other way. we can grow coronavirus in this facility and test new drugs and see if we can stop coronavirus. there�*s not really any other option. it would be too dangerous, unethical, to give drugs directly to patients without this kind of testing so i think having this facility really speeds up the way in which we can make new drugs and find ways to stop coronavirus. in future, these labs will contain things like hiv and salmonella. for now, though, t