Superspreading events, where one person passes COVID-19 to a large group of people, received a lot of attention in the early days of the pandemic. Now with social distancing restrictions in place, we’ve largely shifted our focus to more small-scale spread of the virus. But growing evidence suggests that one-to-many clusters of transmission play a particularly important role in how the disease propagates.

This is particularly bad news for anyone hoping COVID-19 will go away if only we can get case numbers low enough while wearing masks and washing our hands. The power of superspreading events means it only takes a few infected people in the wrong place at the wrong time to create new clusters of disease that rapidly bring numbers up again. Without an adequate test and trace system, COVID-19 is likely to keep coming back again and again, effectively becoming endemic.

The only surefire way to end the pandemic is with a vaccine. Here you can read our comprehensive guide to everything we know so far about how a vaccine will work, the progress that’s been made, and the challenges that still lie ahead. In the meantime, much of the north of England is being subjected to increasingly severe local lockdowns that are leading politicians from across the region to come together in opposition to the government’s plans.

And in New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s response to the pandemic has won her plaudits, but has also seen her leadership transformed.

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