Podcast Episodes

Sweden’s lockdown lite

Unlike its Nordic neighbours, Sweden never imposed a lockdown to stem the spread of coronavirus. Tim Harford speaks to statistician Ola Rosling to find out what the results have been.

Presenter: Tim H…

Published on 5 years, 5 months ago

Why Trump is wrong about the USA’s coronavirus case comeback

Are cases really rising in the US or are they just testing more? Tim digs into the data.

Published on 5 years, 5 months ago

Why did the UK have such a bad Covid-19 epidemic?

The UK has suffered one of the worst outbreaks of coronavirus anywhere in the world. We’ve been tracking and analysing the numbers for the last 14 weeks, and in the last programme of this More or Les…

Published on 5 years, 6 months ago

A new Covid-19 drug and a second wave

The steroid Dexamethasone has been hailed a “major breakthrough” in the treatment of Covid-19. But what does the data say? Plus, why haven’t mass protests led to a second wave?

Published on 5 years, 6 months ago

Child Poverty, School Inequality and a Second Wave

As lockdown eases, why hasn't there been a spike in infections? We get a first look at the evidence for the much-trumpeted Covid-19 treatment, Dexamethasone. Stephanie Flanders tells us what’s happen…

Published on 5 years, 6 months ago

Who Should be Quarantined?

Some countries are requiring new arrivals to self-isolate, a policy designed to stop infection spreading from areas of high prevalence to low prevalence. Tim Harford and Ruth Alexander find out which…

Published on 5 years, 6 months ago

Quarantine, Test and Trace and BODMAS

The UK has introduced new rules requiring all people arriving in the country to self-isolate for 14 days. But given the severity of the UK’s outbreak can there be many places more infectious? Is it t…

Published on 5 years, 6 months ago

Antibody tests, early lockdown advice and European deaths

At the start of March the government's Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said that the UK’s coronavirus outbreak was four weeks behind the epidemic in Italy. This ability to watch other c…

Published on 5 years, 6 months ago

Keep your distance

What difference does a metre make? The World Health Organisation recommends that people keep at least 1 metre apart from each other to stop the spread of Covid-19, but different countries have adopte…

Published on 5 years, 6 months ago

False negatives, testing capacity and pheasants

As lockdowns begin to lift the government is relying on testing and contact tracing programmes to prevent a second wave of Covid-19 infections. But how accurate are the swab tests used to diagnose th…

Published on 5 years, 6 months ago