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Stomach bugs in England dropped by half in first six months of lockdown due to better hygiene, study suggests

Researchers suggested that if people maintained good hygiene habits from the pandemic, then gastrointestinal illnesses could also be cut going forward too.

woman suffering stomachache at home on the sofa
Image: There was a 52% decrease in gastrointestinal outbreaks reported to health agencies during the first six months of lockdown. File pic
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Stomach bug outbreaks in England fell by more than half during the first six months of lockdown, a study has found.

Researchers believe changes in human behaviour due to coronavirus restrictions had a large impact on the prevalence of gastrointestinal infections.

They concluded that if people maintained good hygiene practices they have used during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as hand washing and social distancing, "we could potentially see sustained reductions in the burden of gastrointestinal illnesses".

According to the study, there was a 52% decrease of such outbreaks reported to health agencies in the first six months of lockdown compared to the five-year average for the same period.

Reported outbreaks dropped from 3,208 to 1,544, while laboratory cases fell by 34% from 42,495 to 27,859.

The report was published in BMJ Open.