This is the fourth instalment in a series running all week on the events and stories that impacted GPs in 2020.

Part five will be published on Friday. For part three, click here.

When reports of a new viral infection first started emerging from Wuhan in late 2019, the world’s attention was fixed on images of critically ill patients battling pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome.

If they survived, some faced permanent or prolonged lung damage due to fibrosis.