Long Covid: Three types identified: BBC News Review

Long Covid.

Scientists say there are three types.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Sian. And I'm Beth.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn how to talk about the story.

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Now, today's story.

Long Covid.

Millions of people around the world have reported symptoms of Covid-19

more than twelve weeks after getting the disease.

Now, research by scientists in the UK

has identified three different types of long Covid.

Some people suffer brain fog and headaches.

Others have breathing problems.

And a third group experience a range of symptoms.

Before we look at the headlines,

a quick look at the word 'brain fog'.

This is a condition when you feel confusion

and you can't think clearly.

Now, let's look at the vocabulary today, Beth.

So today,

we have 'unknown enemy', 'rockets' and 'being sold'.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This one comes from the Guardian:

So, this headline is from an opinion piece about long Covid, and the word

we're looking at here is 'unknown enemy'. So, 'enemy' -

that's the opposite of a friend, right?

Well, yeah.

As I'm sure you know, an enemy is someone that hates you.

They want to harm you.

You have to defend yourself against them.

We can think of some good fictional examples from films and books.

Yes, so in Star Wars

we have Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader

are enemies. We have Harry Potter and Voldemort.

They are enemies, but also ordinary people like us. We can have enemies too.

Yeah. And usually you know quite a bit about your enemy.

You probably know their personality and their type of behaviour,

but an 'unknown enemy' is different. And with long Covid,

we have the perfect example,

as in this headline.

Yeah. So, because it is so new scientists don't really know that much about long

Covid yet. They haven't had enough time to study it,

so it's behaviour isn't known, and for that reason we call it an unknown enemy.

And the sense here

is that it's more worrying because it's unknown.

So, it might not be as bad as we think.

But then again, it might be a lot worse.

And that's the key meaning of 'unknown enemy'.

Indeed. And there's that old saying, isn't there?

'Know your enemy'.

At least you know what to expect. Or the phrase:

'Keep your friends close.

Keep your enemies closer.'

Well, it's a good job we're friends then, Sian.

Exactly. Let's look at that again.

Let's have our next headline. This one comes from ITV:

OK. So, the headline is saying that demand for medical services

for people suffering from long

Covid has increased very quickly. And the word

we're looking at here is 'rockets'.

Now, I know what a rocket is.

Yes, it's something that blasts

off the ground into space. It can also be a weapon.

It's really just something that goes up

and goes up very quickly.

But here, we are not talking

about an actual rocket,

are we? Here, in the headline,

it's used as a verb.

Yes, it is a verb and it's used metaphorically, but really,

it's just the same sense as the rocket that blasts into space.

So, it's something that goes up very quickly,

and thinking back to the headline,

we heard that demand for medical services from people with long

Covid has gone up quickly.

Exactly. But it's not just demands that can rocket, is it?

What other things can rocket?

Yeah. So, you can use in other ways. For example,

prices can rocket. Now,

inflation is something that is affecting almost everyone in the world right now,

so, prices are rocketing. Or even 'sky rocketing' -

which is a more extreme way of saying the same thing.

Let's look at that again.

Can we have the next headline, please, Beth?

Yes, this one comes from The Conversation:

OK. So, let's break this headline down.

So, there are a list of three possible cures that they say

are being sold. And we're going to look at the use of this 'being sold' here.

Yeah. And this is a bit more complicated than you might think.

So, I'm sure you know that

'sold' comes from 'sell', and 'sell' is giving something in return for money.

So, are we talking about people paying money for these cures?

Yes. And this is the confusing part.

So, some people are actually paying money for cures,

but we can also use 'sell' in another way.

So, it can mean that someone is trying to convince

or persuade someone else that something is right

or a good idea. And in this case, no money needs to be involved.

Yes, and 'sell' is often used in this way to talk about ideas. So, for example:

'He tried to sell me the idea that people didn't really land on the Moon'.

So, this means he tried to persuade me

that the Moon landings didn't actually happen.

Yes. Good example. And the sense is often that

the thing that someone is trying to convince you of is

maybe a bit wrong or you can't really trust it.

But, you can trust us.

We will never try and sell you a bad definition.

So, let's look at that again.

OK. So, we had 'unknown enemy' - something or someone wants to harm you,

but you don't know how. 'Rockets' - goes

up quickly'. 'Being sold' - being persuaded

that something is a good idea,

but can you trust it?

Don't forget, there is a quiz on our website:

bbclearningenglish.com

Thank you for joining us, goodbye. Bye.