From before Covid-19 our country already had a problem with obesity. The average weight of men women and children had steadily been increasing such that two thirds of adults in the UK now are over-weight or obese (BMI greater than 25). The advent of Covid has made this problem more acute. It seems that over-weight people who catch the virus are more likely to die or suffer severely from the illness than those who are not over-weight. This was sharply illustrated last April when our Prime Minister, several stone too heavy for his height, was very severely affected by the virus. Much was made of that at the time, with Boris Johnson making promises about tackling obesity but we are still waiting for those promises to be put into action. The NHS is affected in two ways, firstly: resources it had been using to fight obesity are now being diverted to fight Covid and secondly: the increase in obesity causes an increase in the severity of Covid cases. This is a vicious circle which must be cut.
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