Retail therapies

One in five has long Covid

■ Standard toothpaste tubes are not currently recyclable, with 20 billion going to landfill each year. But you can care for your teeth and the environment with Colgate Smile For Good Toothpaste (£4.99; Waitrose). The packaging is made from the same plastic resin as milk bottles, so it can be recycled as part of your council collection.

In winter, there’s not much that’s more warming than a pie, but pick wisely and you can feel less guilty about indulging. Higgidy Chilliroasted Sweet Potato and Feta (£6; Sainsbury’s) is packed with root veg and spinach, while its shortcrust pastry is made with healthy, wholegrain spelt, pumpkin seeds and linseeds.

■ While we don’t need medicalgrade masks to head to the supermarket, there are times we might feel reassured by wearing more than a homemade cloth mask – when seeing the GP, for example. Boots’ Protective FFP2 NR Face Masks (£9.99 for 5) are classed as official PPE and are lightweight and comfy.

Watching your weight and want to keep track of your ingredients? The Heston Blumenthal Precision Dual Platform Digital Kitchen Scales (£39.99; John Lewis) will help make sure you’re on the button. It has two platforms, one measuring up to 10kg in 1g increments and the other for ultimate precision (up to 200g in

0.1g increments).

I first wrote about long Covid six months ago when it was hardly known. Now there are more and more reports, and the symptoms are broadening too.

Apparently, one in five people still have symptoms five weeks after their illness, including fatigue, coughs, headaches, and loss of taste and smell. Additionally, one in 10 still had symptoms after 12 weeks (twice as many as previously estimated) according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics. Most of the patients hadn’t been hospitalised.

The data was based on responses collected by the ONS Covid-19 infection survey of people who’d mostly stayed at home, though some had needed hospital treatment.

Knitting queen Helen Flynn, in Hereford, has been keeping busy with her needles before, during and after various lockdowns. She says: “I thought readers might like to see how I have been keeping out of mischief – knitting toddler hoodies and Santa jumpers for my grandchildren and friends’ children. “I’m constantly knitting, and now have about seven of these Christmas jumpers finished, as well as baby blankets and coat and hat sets for my daughter’s nursing friends who have become mums during this lockdown. “I even take my knitting away on holiday!” Do you have a craft or knitting hobby you’d like to show off? Email me at siobhan. mcnally@mirror.co.uk.

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