From social distancing shoes to reduced lung cancer symptoms and a very emotional family reunion, here’s this week’s good news round up.

Improvement in symptoms

Many people living with a lung condition, including lung cancer, have noticed an improvement in their symptoms, according to a recent survey.

More than 14,000 people answered the survey by the British Lung Foundation, with 16 per cent sharing their symptoms, such as breathlessness, have improved

With road traffic at its lowest level in recent history, we have seen a significant drop in the levels of air pollution. Seeing the impact of this, coupled with the knowledge that air pollution causes around 8 per cent of all lung cancer cases each year, the aim is to continue to improve air quality after the stringent lockdown measures have ended.

Paula Chadwick is the chief executive of Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation:

“As a member of the Taskforce for Lung Health, we are committed to keeping air pollution down. This could not only reduce the number of people diagnosed with lung cancer but, as this survey suggests, help improve symptoms and quality of life for those living with the disease.”

Size 75 please

A shoemaker in Romania has created size 75 shoes to help people maintain social distancing rules.

Grigore Lu has been making leather shoes for 39 years and decided to put those skills to good use after seeing people break the 2-metre social distancing rule at his local market:

“I went to the market to buy seedlings for my garden. There weren’t many people there, but they kept getting closer and closer.

“If two people wearing these shoes were facing each other, there would be almost one-and-a-half meters between them.”

Potential vaccine roll-out by September

A potential vaccine for coronavirus, originally developed by Oxford, could be made available in September this year.

Pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, is aiming to manufacture two billion doses of a vaccine and start distributing it in September or October. The aim includes rolling out 400 million doses for the UK and US and one billion to low- and middle-income countries, with the remaining distribution likely to be made early next year.

The drug, which includes a protein of the SARA CoV-2 virus stain, is currenting being tested in around 10,000 adult volunteers. Trials are being run simultaneously with manufacturing to make the vaccine available as early as possible.

Speaking to journalists, Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which is working with AstraZeneca on the drug’s production, said:

“Obviously, if the vaccine is successful, placing that early bet on the manufacturing gives a huge payoff because you end up with tens or even hundreds of millions of doses that become available at the earliest possible moment.”

Family reunited

After nine weeks away from her daughters, NHS worker was reunited with her two daughters this week.

Suzie Vaughan made the decision to send her daughters, Hettie, 7, and Bella, 9, away to her sister’s house to protect them whilst she worked on a coronavirus ward.

Speaking to Sky News, she said:

“The decision to send the girls away was to keep them safe because I didn’t know what I was going to be bringing home.

“It’s been really difficult. It’s been emotionally and physically exhausting.”