Covid: The everyday activity that makes you ‘twice’ as likely to catch coronavirus

Covid-19: Dr Hilary discusses the impact of omicron on the NHS

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Covid is transmitted through either droplets or aerosols. You can get infected from either inhaling or coming to contact with these respiratory particles through your eyes, nose or mouth. However, you can also catch the virus from contaminated surfaces. A new study has identified the riskiest activities for catching COVID-19.

The Virus Watch Study from SAGE looked at everyday activities, pinpointing the greatest risk of catching Covid.

They looked at more than 10,000 people in England and Wales.

The data compared the second wave of the pandemic between October 2020 and April 2021 to a time when there were no restrictions in place from September till November last year.

According to their findings, the riskiest activity throughout both of these time frames was shopping.

They found that doing a shop once a week during the second wave posed more than one and a half higher risk for catching the virus.

While doing a weekly shop with no restrictions in place represented two times the risk.

The next riskiest activity was playing sport outside, scoring 1.36 percent.

However, the researchers suggested this might be because of the social aspect of the activity rather than the sport itself.

Other risky pastimes included going to a restaurant, pub, bar and taking public transport.

The risk of testing positive after those was recorded at around 1.3 times, during the no-restrictions period.

The data suggests that the worst form of transport for catching Covid seems to be the bus.

Going to a club posed the same risk as going to a pub or bar.

The least risky activities were visiting a hairdresser, barber, nail salon or a beauty parlour.

There was “no good evidence of increased risk” from attending cinemas, theatres, concerts or indoor sports events either, the study reports.

However, the new research has only looked at the data before the emergence of Omicron.

The Omicron variant first emerged in the UK on 27 November and cases picked up from mid-December.

The new variant is believed to be more transmissible but cause less severe disease.

The number of new cases recorded for yesterday was 178,250, according to the Government data.

Everyone is being urged to get a booster jab and wear a face covering to reduce the risk of transmission.

If you think you have symptoms of Covid, you have to self-isolate and get a PCR test.

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