For the next few months Talk Evidence is going to focus on the new corona virus pandemic. There is an enormous amount of uncertainty about the disease, what the symptoms are, fatality rate, treatment options, things we shouldn't be doing.

We're going to try to get away from the headlines and talk about what we need to know - to hopefully give you some insight into these issues.

This week:

(1.20) Carl gives us an update on the England and Wales admission data.

(3.00) Helen talks about ways in which spread and severity of infection amongst household contacts.

(8.20) We talk natural history of covid-19, and Harlan Krumholz, cardiologist at Yale, tells us what we know, and why it's difficult to have a full picture at the moment.

(15.10) Helen picks up on a study from Tim Spectre and colleagues using an app to track cases.

(20.00) Henry Scowcroft, one of The BMJ's patient editor, who also works for Cancer Research UK, joins us to talk about patients who are taking part in clinical trials, and how this is affecting them. He also touches on the thin patient participation in the design of covid treatment guidelines.

(24.10) Carl talks rapidity of publishing, and where researchers should most target their evidence outreach.

Reading list:
Reducing risks from coronavirus transmission in the home
https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1728

Rapid implementation of mobile technology for real-time
epidemiology of COVID-19
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/early/2020/05/04/science.abc0473.full.pdf

The BMJ Public and Patient participation twitter chat
https://twitter.com/hashtag/BMJdebate