The covid-19 pandemic gave older people in England a stronger sense of purpose and greater life satisfaction, possibly because it deepened their appreciation for the simple things in life.

We already knew that some people’s well-being and , but what happened later on, after most restrictions had been lifted, is less well understood. “Unfortunately, most of the studies that were carried out did not continue [in the later years of] the pandemic, so there was a big gap in the research,” says at University College London.

To address this, Zaninotto and her colleagues analysed data from surveys on the well-being and depressive symptoms of nearly 4000, mainly white, people in England, all of whom were aged 50 or older at the time of the study.

Each participant completed a survey in the two years running up to the pandemic, a second one in the first year of the pandemic in 2020 and a final one between the end of 2021 and early 2023. More than 85 per cent of participants filled in this last survey in 2022, after most infection-control measures in England had ended.

The team found that, before the pandemic, the participants rated their sense of purpose in life with an average score of 7.5 out of 10. This dropped to 7.2 in 2020, before rising to 7.6 – above pre-pandemic levels – in the final survey.

Similarly, the participants reported an average life satisfaction score of 7.3 before the pandemic, and although this dipped to 6.9 early in the pandemic, it rose to 7.5 in the final survey.

Free newsletter

Sign up to ��ҹ����1000���� Check

Sign up to newsletter

While these are small shifts in well-being at a population level, some individuals will have experienced larger changes that affect their work and relationships, says at the University of Bristol, UK.

It may be that the global outbreak reminded people of what is important in life, says Zaninotto. “The pandemic brought some challenges, but also a more broad appreciation for our lives – maybe for social connections and other meaningful activities,” she says.

The team also found that average rates of depression – defined as having at least four depressive symptoms, such as feeling lonely – more than doubled from the first period to the second one. Rates fell in the final survey, but remained above pre-pandemic levels.

“People may feel ‘we got through it, I’ve gone back to work, I’ve been able to see my family again’ and all that stuff, which is purposeful and satisfying, but, at the same time, you might find yourself low at times, you might not be able to feel pleasure in the same way,” says Pearson. Further studies should explore what exactly is driving these increased rates of depression, she says.

Additional research should also explore how the results translate to people elsewhere, says at the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies in Luxembourg. “The pandemic policies and severity of the pandemic was so dramatically different in other countries,” he says. “You can’t really generalise to younger people, ethnic minority or marginalised groups either.”

Covid-19 is “no longer a global health emergency” in the view of the World ��ҹ����1000���� Organization (WHO), which has downgraded the threat level posed by the coronavirus following three years at the highest state of alert.

Speaking at a news conference on 5 May, WHO director-general said the pandemic has been on a “downward trend” for more than a year, with population immunity increasing due to vaccinations and infections, leading to reduced mortality and an easing of pressure on health services. “This trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before covid-19,” he said.

“Yesterday, the emergency committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern [PHEIC],” he added. “I have accepted that advice”.

Covid-19 was declared a PHEIC on 30 January 2020, after the initial outbreak of the virus in China in December 2019 had spread to 18 other countries.

It is the highest alarm the WHO can sound of a global threat to public health, with such events deemed to be extraordinary, to constitute an international public health threat and to require a coordinated international response.

Ending the PHEIC declaration is a major symbolic step towards the end of the pandemic. It also means that countries are no longer obliged to share health data with the WHO.

Free newsletter

Sign up to ��ҹ����1000���� Check

Sign up to newsletter

Since 2020, covid-19 has infected more than 765 million people and killed more than 7 million worldwide, according to the WHO. But thanks to mutations in the virus and a global vaccine rollout, the disease is now less likely to cause serious illness.

Many countries have already returned to near-normal in recent months, with restrictions on social distancing, mask wearing and testing dropped by many governments, including those of the US and the UK.

But Tedros warned that the coronavirus is “here to stay”, stressing that countries will now need to transition towards managing the virus in the same way as other infectious diseases, such as flu.

“It is still killing and it is still changing. The risk remains of new variants emerging that cause new surges in cases and deaths,” he said. “The worst thing any country could do now is to use this news as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built or to send the message to its people that covid-19 is nothing to worry about.”

While the emergency committee will now be disbanded, a new review committee will be established to develop long-term recommendations to advise countries on managing covid-19 on an ongoing basis, Tedros added.

Latest coronavirus news as of 1pm 9 June

Moderna’s omicron-tailored booster candidate produces eight times as many virus-neutralising antibodies against the variant as its original booster vaccine

An updated version of Moderna’s covid-19 vaccine that targets the BA.1 sublineage of omicron leads to an eight-fold increase in antibody levels against the variant of concern, according to a small, preliminary .

Moderna’s new booster is the first covid-19 vaccine to combine the jab that targeted the original strain of the coronavirus – which emerged in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019 – with a vaccine that specifically targets the omicron variant.

In the clinical trial, the updated vaccine was given to 437 people who had already received two full-dose Moderna vaccines and its booster.

One month after receiving the updated booster, the participants’ neutralising antibody levels against omicron had risen by about eight times.

“The data we show today are really important because we get a really strong antibody response against Omicron,” Moderna’s chief medical officer Paul Burton told on 8 June.

“For the first time, we could really be looking at the potential for just once-yearly boosting, because we can get people to such a high level that they will take longer to decay.”

Whether these raised antibody levels translate into a reduced risk of hospitalisation or death with covid-19 is unknown.

“These antibody measurements provide an indication that is likely to translate into clinical effects, but an element of uncertainty in extrapolating the results to clinical effectiveness must, inevitably, remain,” Stephen Evans at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said in a statement to the Science Media Centre.

Other coronavirus news

India has its highest number of daily covid-19 cases since March. The country’s health ministry reported today that 7240 new coronavirus infections had occurred in the last 24 hours.

while it conducts mass coronavirus testing. This comes just one week after the city eased restrictions that had confined about 25 million people to their homes since March.

As of 11 June, people living in the south-western district of Minhang will be placed under “closed management” until they have all been tested.

Essential information about coronavirus

Where did coronavirus come from? And other covid-19 questions answered

What is covid-19?

Covid-19 vaccines: Everything you need to know about the leading shots

Long covid: Do I have it, how long will it last and can we treat it?

What’s the fairest way to share covid-19 vaccines around the world?

Covid-19: The story of a pandemic

What to read, watch and listen to about coronavirus

New Scientist Weekly features updates and analysis on the latest developments in the covid-19 pandemic. Our podcast sees expert journalists from the magazine discuss the biggest science stories to hit the headlines each week – from technology and space, to health and the environment.

is a BBC Radio 4 series exploring how viruses can cross from animals into humans to cause pandemics. The first episode examines the origins of the covid-19 pandemic.

is a BBC documentary, which investigates what the high covid-19 death rates in ethnic minority patients reveal about health inequality in the UK.

is a BBC documentary about the inside story of the development of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine against covid-19.

is a Channel 4 documentary which tells the story of the coronavirus pandemic through the eyes of the scientists on the frontline.

is assessing the progress in development of potential drug treatments for covid-19, and ranking them for effectiveness and safety.

is a project highlighting the experiences of key workers on the frontline in the fight against coronavirus in the UK, through social media.

is a BBC Panorama investigation of the death of transport worker Belly Mujinga from covid-19, following reports she had been coughed and spat on by a customer at London’s Victoria Station.

on Netflix is a short documentary series examining the coronavirus pandemic, the efforts to fight it and ways to manage its mental health toll.

by Debora Mackenzie is about how the pandemic happened and why it will happen again if we don’t do things differently in future.

is about the new science of contagion and the surprising ways it shapes our lives and behaviour. The author, Adam Kucharski, is an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, and in the book he examines how diseases spread and why they stop.

1 June

An estimated 2 million people in the UK have lingering covid-19 symptoms more than four weeks after their initial coronavirus infection

Based on the latest of people living in private households in the UK, an estimated 3.1 per cent of the population were experiencing long covid symptoms as of 1 May.

This is 200,000 more people than , as of 3 April.

Of the estimated 2 million people with long covid, 1.4 million are thought to have been infected, or suspect they were infected, at least 12 weeks prior to their ongoing symptoms.

Meanwhile 826,000 are estimated to have been infected with covid-19, or had a suspected infection, at least one year earlier. About 376,000 would have first been infected at least two years ago.

Of those surveyed, 55 per cent with long covid had fatigue, the most commonly reported symptom. This was followed by 32 per cent of people experiencing shortness of breath, 23 per cent having a cough and 23 per cent experiencing muscle aches.

Other coronavirus news

Three doses of a coronavirus vaccine, regardless of what type, are the most effective defence against covid-19, .

Researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) analysed 53 vaccine studies conducted throughout the pandemic. The studies included over 100 million participants who together received seven different types of covid-19 vaccines in 24 dosing combinations.

Results suggest three doses of any mRNA vaccine, such as those manufactured by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, is 96 per cent effective against asymptomatic and symptomatic covid-19 infections, accounting for the different variants.

An mRNA booster after two doses of an adenovirus vector vaccine, such as those manufactured by AstraZeneca/The University of Oxford and Johnson & Johnson, is 88 per cent effective.

Despite higher efficacy with a three-dose mRNA vaccine regimen, three doses of any covid-19 vaccine is still very effective, according to the researchers.

A third of people in the UK think the government is exaggerating the number of covid-19 deaths, .

Researchers at King’s College London surveyed 12,000 people about their views on covid-19 across six countries: the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Norway and Poland.

A third (33 per cent) of people in the UK believe the government is exaggerating the number of covid-19 deaths, a figure that is even higher in Poland, at 43 per cent. Norway has the lowest proportion of people who do not trust the government’s mortality figures, at 24 per cent.

The researchers also found that 15 per cent of people in the UK do not believe that nearly all scientists think the covid-19 vaccines are safe.

“Across both the UK and other European countries included in this study, there is a stubborn minority who still question not only the scientific consensus on vaccine safety but also government reporting of Covid deaths,” Bobby Duffy at King’s College London in the UK said in a statement.

See previous updates from May 2022, April 2022, March 2022, February 2022, January 2022, November to December 2021, September to October 2021, July to September 2021, June to July 2021,��May 2021, April to March 2021, February 2021, January 2021, November to December 2020, and March to November 2020.