The impact of COVID-19 on breast cancer research has been devastating and could lead to subsequent diagnoses, which is a major health concern, says Professor Sarah Hosking, executive director of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. “COVID-19 has had a significant impact in a variety of ways, obviously in the first place, the direct impact on researchers in research labs has had to be shut down pretty much across the board,” he said. “The researchers tell us it will take at least 12 months and probably a little longer to get back to where they were a year ago. “So, they are going to be quite behind and it will take a while to catch up.” Professor Hosking told Sky News that another big concern was that there was a big drop in the number of submissions last year for breast exams. He said that in March of last year there were a typical number of exams of around 70,000, but that was reduced to 1,100 in April, with an overall drop of 30 percent. “It does not mean that people do not have breast cancer, the numbers will be similar, and as we look to the future, these people will present a little later in their disease, so that is significant because early detection saves lives. “, He said. “Showing up late is a really big factor in lowering the forecast, so it will have a detrimental impact, so we really need it to catch up.”
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