UK facing ‘tsunami of missed cancers’ in wake of pandemic, experts say

An NHS member of staff looks at the results of a lung scan. The study calculated that between April and July 2020, diagnosis of lung cancer dropped by 16%. Photograph: NHS England/PA

The UK can expect a “tsunami of missed cancers”, leading experts have said, after an international study found that diagnoses fell sharply during the pandemic.

Preliminary figures from the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership, presented to delegates at the World Cancer Congress in Geneva, compared data on the instance and stage of cancer diagnosis in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and the UK, before and during the pandemic.