A US study saw 12,000 people who were either obese or overweight given the pills or a placebo – with those who took the drug shedding an average of 4kg (9lbs) in 40 months. Further analysis showed no big differences in tests for heart valve damage. Tam Fry, of Britain’s National Obesity Forum, said the drug is potentially the "holy grail" of weight-loss medicine. "I think it is the thing everybody has been looking for," he said.
Public health investigators asked people what they’d eaten, and 79 percent said they’d had romaine — both at restaurants, and at home. So far, no one knows whether there’s a common link. E. coli naturally hangs out in animal intestines, and one of the grossest ways it spreads is through poop. Produce can become contaminated if poop-tainted water gets into the field where it’s grown, or if the produce comes into contact with contaminated surfaces during harvest, shipping, or at the store.
The government’s Office of National Statistics released figures indicating that deaths could be at least 10 percent higher than the official toll — 12,107 as of Tuesday — which does not take into account many people who die in nursing homes or at home. More than 2,000 nursing homes, about 13 percent of the country’s total, have had coronavirus cases, said Dr. Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser. Workers in many of the homes have complained of an acute shortage of protective gear. Care England, a charity representing independent care agencies, has estimated that nearly 1,000 Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes have gone uncounted. Two major home operators have reported 521 deaths in recent days, many of which are not yet included in official totals.