The use of antibiotics in people with COVID-19 could result in increased resistance to the drugs' benefits among the wider population, a new study suggests.

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Patients hospitalised as a result of the virus are being given a combination of medications to prevent possible secondary bacterial infections. However, research by the University of Plymouth and Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust suggests their increased use during the pandemic could be placing an additional burden on waste water treatment works.

Writing in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, scientists say this could lead to raised levels of antibiotics within the UK's rivers or coastal waters, which may in turn result in an increase in antimicrobial resistance (AMR), where bacteria become resistant to the action of antibiotics.