UK government agency responsible for protecting the public from infectious diseases and other health threats.
Kashim Chowdhury, on trial at Southwark Crown Court on nine fraud counts he denies, is accused of holding five full-time public sector jobs at once. The allegations are untested; if the prosecution's account holds, working from home let him keep each job secret from the other employers.
Reality
SW.2 accounts for about 21 percent of reported COVID-19 infections, ahead of XFG at 16 percent, while positive tests rise in the UK, Europe and the US. UK health officials say current data do not link any of the watched variants to significantly more severe illness.
Reality
The CDC reported in April 2026 that 8.5 percent of 2023 US Shigella samples resisted five common antibiotics, up from zero in 2011 through 2015. Because the infection mimics food poisoning, a sexual history can decide which treatment works.
Reality
XFG, the covid lineage behind about 60 per cent of sequenced cases worldwide, escapes antibodies better than earlier variants in lab tests. No rise in severity has been reported so far, and immunity from past infections and vaccines appears to protect most people from serious illness.
Reality
UKHSA researchers tie 40 Mycobacterium abscessus infections, two linked to deaths, to Royal Papworth Hospital's new water system between 2019 and 2025. The case shows a new building's plumbing can keep exposing transplant and cystic fibrosis patients for years after the taps are filtered.
Reality