What's Next? Phase Two, Ae 3

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The first phase of a study into the risk of virus transmission at sporting events is now over. The scientists hope to get some interim results out before the autumn, but it's not clear if they'll be able to tell us all there is to know. There has been a spike in cases since England and scotland entered the european football championships last year. Scientists think that socializing with friends may have led to more people getting infected than would have happened without those activities.

Early in 2021 the United Kingdom, along with several other countries, allowed mass gatherings as part of a series of controlled studies aimed at better understanding the role events could play in the pandemic. The goal was to inform policy - however early results have provided limited data on viral transmission.

As the Olympic games kick off in Tokyo, we delve into the research, asking what the limitations have been, if more data will become available and whether policy makers are likely to take the findings into account in the future.

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