ONE of the region’s top public health experts has suggested some university students have “lost their ability to interact” because of the pandemic.

Dr John Beal said two years of online lectures and the absence of face-to-face socialising had deeply affected the mental health of the city’s students.

Dr Beal, who is also the chair of the pressure group Healthwatch Leeds, said a conversation he’d had with a local university chaplain had highlighted the full extent of the problem.  Research published by the charity Mind last August reported 34 per cent of young people saying the pandemic had made their mental health worse.

Speaking at a meeting of Leeds health professionals on Thursday, Dr Beal called for more attention to be paid to student wellbeing, adding that many had been isolated from their families and homes when the virus struck.

He said: “There are cohorts of young adults who came to this city, a long way from home, who basically have had no social interaction.

“All their lectures have been online, all their seminars have been online.

“When they have liaised with friends they’ve done that using digital (technology).”

Dr Beal contrasted the issue with “digital exclusion” and concerns about the mental health of elderly people who are cut off through having no internet access.

He added: “There are some young people whose only social interaction has been digital and that has affected their mental health and wellbeing.

“They have lost, the chaplin says, the ability to socially interact with their colleagues.

“They haven’t had the opportunity.”