60,000 LOST THE CANCER

MORE than 60,000 years of life will be lost by 2025 because of cancer diagnosis delays caused by the coronavirus, shocking research has warned.

Up to 3,620 patient deaths could eventually be attributed to diagnostic delays over the five-year period, experts said.

But researchers admitted this could be just the tip of the iceberg as they only studied services in England and only looked at four cancer types.

It is estimated there could be a 10 per cent increase in breast cancer deaths, a 17 per cent increase in bowel cancer deaths, a five per cent rise in lung cancer deaths and a six per cent rise in deaths from esophageal cancer.

Researchers from King’s College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine compiled the figures.

Richard Sullivan, professor of cancer and global health at King’s College, said the loss of life to cancer showed a “systematic failure

‘This lockdown must never happen again’