Vital dementia research resumes at Cambridge after lockdown

Watch a video report by ITV News Anglia's Matthew Hudson

Dementia researchers at Alzheimer's Research UK are back working in labs at the University of Cambridge for the first time since lockdown. 

The team will work in shifts to maintain social distancing.  

The charity is warning though that research work won't be back at full capacity for some time.

Almost a million people in the UK are living with dementia. But lockdown stopped research into the various different conditions.

Now a dozen experts are back working at Cambridge's Centre for Brain Repair operating in shifts to maximise the vital research they can do under still challenging conditions.

People with dementia who contract coronavirus are very likely to be severely affected by it.

Official figures show that in England and Wales 25% of those who have died of Covid-19 also had dementia.

It's not clear when the centre will return to full capacity but this return allows research which has lain untouched for three long months to be salvaged.