COVID-19 casts a shadow over progress on TB

Efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have inadvertently affected tuberculosis (TB) programmes and other aspects of non-COVID healthcare, according to two recent commentaries, published in Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials and Tropical Medicine and Health. The linkages between COVID-19, TB and HIV are most pronounced in sub-Saharan Africa, where TB is the leading cause of death for people with HIV. Nonetheless, the impact has also been felt in the high income setting of the United Kingdom (UK).