704,753,890
Total cases
7,010,681
Total deaths
675,619,811
Total recovered
Historical cumulative figures, not live. Tracking effectively ended worldwide in 2023. Last updated 13 April 2024.
BA.3.2, nicknamed Cicada, carries an unusually large number of spike mutations and has spread to dozens of countries. Here's what's actually known so far.
Symptoms overlap heavily, but there are useful clues and ultimately testing is the only reliable way to know for sure. Here's how to make sense of the differences.
No more legal isolation rules, but NHS guidance still recommends staying home while unwell. Here's a step-by-step guide to what to actually do if you test positive.
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Meningitis can develop within hours. The rash is not always the first sign. Symptoms in babies and adults, how to do the glass test, the UK vaccines that protect against it and why students are targeted.
A fever is usually the body fighting an infection, but some signs need urgent help. What temperature matters at each age, how to use paracetamol and ibuprofen, what febrile convulsions are and the red flags.
UTIs are common, especially in women. Many can now be treated by a pharmacist in England. Symptoms, who needs a GP, the signs of kidney infection and what does and does not help prevent them.
Sinusitis usually clears in two to three weeks and rarely needs antibiotics. How to tell it from a cold, what eases the pressure, what a pharmacist can offer and when facial pain is a red flag.
Most middle ear infections clear within three days to a week without antibiotics. How to spot one in a child, what helps the pain, what a pharmacist can do and the rare signs that need urgent care.
Most tonsillitis is viral and clears in a week without antibiotics. How to tell when it may be bacterial, what a pharmacist can do, the warning signs of quinsy and when tonsil removal is considered.
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Hand, foot and mouth disease is common, usually mild and nothing to do with foot and mouth disease in animals. How to recognise it, ease sore mouths, handle nursery and spot the rare warning signs.
Chickenpox is usually mild in children but not always. It is more serious in adults and pregnancy. The timeline, when spots stop being infectious, why ibuprofen is avoided and the vaccine now offered.
Pneumonia ranges from a walking chest infection to a hospital emergency. The symptoms, who is most at risk, how it is treated and a realistic week-by-week recovery timeline.
Sepsis can follow any infection, from a chest infection to a small cut. The warning signs in adults and children, why every hour counts and what recovery looks like afterwards.
Flu, COVID-19, RSV, shingles, pneumococcal, whooping cough and MMR. One place to see what each protects against, who the NHS offers it to, plus which ones you have to pay for.
Shingles is chickenpox returning decades later and the first 72 hours change the outcome. What the rash looks like, why nerve pain can persist and how the expanded NHS vaccine programme works.
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