Having Covid-19 linked to risk of economic hardship, study suggests

Exclusive: Research finds that disease is associated with 39% rise in odds of people in UK having inadequate income for basic needs

People living in the UK's most deprived areas are more likely to be infected with Covid-19, but new research suggests this relationship is a two-way street: becoming infected also increases people's risk of economic hardship, particularly if they develop long Covid.

We've shown that Covid has an impact on people's ability to meet their basic household requirements - something that is only going to be exacerbated by the cost of living crisis which is happening at the same time," said Adrian Martineau, a professor of respiratory infection and immunity at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), who supervised the research.