Disgusting things you’re probably doing which might be making you sick

Health experts reveal the unsafe behaviours that could increase the risk of gastrointestinal illness.

They might be just bad habits now, but if you're not careful, some of the things you do could end up increasing your risk of gastrointestinal illness

A new study has revealed that stomach bugs – such as norovirus – decreased by more than half during the first six months of the pandemic, which the authors say is due to changes in behaviour brought about by Covid-19.

The BMJ Open paper found that outbreaks of gastrointestinal infections reported to health agencies in England fell by 52% compared with the average for the same period, and concluded that if people continued these hygiene practices – such as hand washing and social distancing – we could potentially see “sustained reductions in the burden of gastrointestinal illness”.