Health leaders say extensive negotiations still needed to agree set of measures on how the world should prevent and respond to future pandemics

• Explainer: What is the pandemic accord and why have negotiations been so difficult?

Global health leaders have said an international treaty governing how the world should deal with future pandemics may not be agreed for another year or more.

After two years of negotiations, countries failed to agree on the text of an international pandemic accord by a deadline of 24 May. And at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday delegates said extensive further negotiations would be needed.

The revelation that the popstar was ill during five shows has led to many celebrating her work ethic. It’s yet more evidence that our dangerous, damaging hustle culture is here to stay

Should you go into work when you’re sick with a contagious virus? Lady Gaga has spoken and the answer, it seems, is “sure, why not?” During a recent Q&A for an HBO concert special based on her 2022 Chromatica Ball tour, the pop star was asked to reveal something she had never shared before. In response, she said that she’d performed five shows while sick with Covid. It probably would have been wise to never share that little titbit, to be honest, and it is a little disturbing to nonchalantly share it now. Still, rather than seeming troubled by this information, the crowd watching the Q&A appeared to cheer and applaud while Lady Gaga grinned.

To be fair, Lady Gaga isn’t a monster (though her fans are – they call themselves “Little Monsters”): she made it clear that she did have a little think about the ethics of spewing infectious droplets into an enclosed space. The singer said she shared her Covid diagnosis with everyone on her team at the time and told them they didn’t have to work if it made them uncomfortable. As for the concertgoers? “The way that I saw it is the fans are all putting themselves in harm’s way every day coming to the show,” she reasoned.

Former UK chief scientific adviser warns ‘we are not ready yet’ and urges next government to prepare

• UK politics live – latest updates

The former chief scientific adviser to the government Sir Patrick Vallance has said another pandemic is “absolutely inevitable” and urged the incoming British government to focus on preparing for it, warning “we are not ready yet”.

Speaking at a panel event at the Hay festival in Powys, Vallance said it is “great we are having an election” as there are “clearly issues that need to be sorted out”. One of the things the next government must do is implement “better surveillance to be able to pick these things up”, he said.

Hastings has the highest number of young people in England in bad health. But, amid a national epidemic of forced economic inactivity, there is hope

On a Wednesday night in Hastings, a handful of under-18s gather in the back of a former newspaper building for a weekly Dungeons and Dragons night. Around the table, a teenager peers from behind a floppy fringe, telling the other players of a monster with jaws wide enough to swallow a man whole. Behind him, two boys are playing pool. For the moment, there’s not an iPhone in sight.

Sidney Ewing, the youth worker overseeing the programme, says the majority of young people who come to the centre feel uncertain about their future. Their most popular night is for 16-to-18s, she says, a generation who lost two critical years of their education to Covid, with only screens for school and socialising. “A lot of them say they aren’t ready to go to university or start work because of their mental health,” she says. “You hear that a lot: ‘I need to sort myself out first.’”

The accord – conceived during Covid to prevent and respond to pandemics – will top the agenda at the World Health Assembly

Global health leaders will gather in Geneva on 27 May at the annual World Health Assembly, where a new agreement for countries to work together to prepare for, prevent, and respond to pandemics – known as the “pandemic accord” – will top the agenda.

It was first proposed by world leaders in early 2021, with a promise to avoid the mistakes of the Covid-19 pandemic next time around.

Data reveals pandemic accelerated decline in number of worshippers regularly attending C of E services

The Covid pandemic accelerated a decline in the number of people who regularly attend Church of England services, according to data.

If there had been no pandemic – during which churches were closed for several months – the C of E estimates that about 747,000 people would have attended weekly services in 2023, continuing a declining trend.