HEALTH NEWS

The pandemic is affecting our dreams, with sleep research showing a spike in stressful “coronadreams”.

Recall of dreams is also up by a third, a study found, with fears, trauma or solution-seeking featuring heavily.

Key workers and those who have been ill are more likely to have vivid, disturbing dreams, according to Deirdre Barrett, author of Pandemic Dreams.

Black people are at least one-and-a-half times more likely to have a stroke compared to white people.

A study has found that a gene involved in diabetes and coronary artery disease may also raise the risk of strokes among people of African descent.

Scientists say the discovery paves the way for greater investigation and identification of those who are at higher risk.

America has seen a 90 per cent rise in the number of Covid cases in kids in the last month. Dr Sean O’Leary, from the American Academy of Paediatrics, said: “It’s not fair to say this virus is completely benign in children.

“We’ve had 90 deaths in children in the US already in just a few months. Every year we worry about influenza in children and there are around 100 deaths in children from that every year.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel says she wants to “explicitly” remove any ban on supplying alkyl nitrites – a muscle-relaxing drug used by gay men during sex.

Currently, it is not illegal to possess the liquid – which is commonly referred to as poppers – but supplying it can sometimes be an offence.

During a Commons debate in 2016, Tory MP Crispin Blunt said he used them.