“Variant more dangerous than Omikron in two years”. England’s chief doctor’s bleak forecast

New Coronavirus Variant Worse Than Omikron? There is a “good chance” that such a mutation will emerge in the next two years, says England’s Chief Medical Officer Sir Chris Whitty. In his opinion, more surprises await us from the pathogen. There is something else that worries the doctor – this problem will be with us, even if there are no more cases of COVID-19.

1. Chief physician in England warns: there is “a good chance” that a mutation more dangerous than Omikron will appear in the next two years
2. New variants of the virus could appear “anywhere in the world”
3. “The term” endemic “is massively abused, including by those with medical qualifications, notes Sir Chris Whitty
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5. More information can be found on the Onet homepage

Mutation more dangerous than Omikron? There are «big chances»

The third year of the pandemic has begun. Probably everyone asks themselves the question “when will it finally end”. There are opinions that COVID-19 will be an endemic disease, and some countries are willing to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection as the flu. England’s Chief Medical Officer, Sir Chris Whitty, however, cautions that the term ‘endemic’ is being abused massively, including by medical professionals. How the pandemic is likely to develop, Whitty spoke at a recent public health conference. The scenario is rather gloomy.

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Rather than expect the “end point” of a pandemic, we should accept that there are still a few surprises ahead of us from the coronavirus. The medic emphasizes that “with time the pandemic will become less and less dominant, but for the rest of our lives we will have a serious problem with it in many parts of the world”. “Let us have no illusions about it,” he says directly.

The rest of the article is available under the video.

In his opinion, other possible variants of the coronavirus must be taken into account. What’s more, there is a “good chance” that a mutation more dangerous than Omikron will emerge in the next two years. »… and the problems with the Omikron are not trivial at all» – reminded prof. Chris Whitty. The Daily Mail reports that the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergency Situations (SAGE), co-chaired by Whitty, warns of the “real possibility” of a variant that “kills one in three”, as does MERS. “This is because Omikron has evolved from a different part of the virus lineage and there is no guarantee that the next strain will evolve directly from it,” explains the journal.

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At least 1,3 million people with complications from COVID-19

“We must be aware that we have a long way to go (to the end of the pandemic – ed),” says Whitty. This is evidenced by Hong Kong, which is going through the worst phase of the pandemic. “In fact, there are parts of the world that are yet to grapple with the serious problems of COVID-19,” says Whitty. In his opinion, the statement that the situation related to SARS-CoV-2 is stabilizing in the world is incorrect.

The chief physician of England draws attention to another important problem. We will deal with it, even if there are no new cases of coronavirus infection. This is called long covid. The latest data shows that at least 1,3 million people may suffer complications after passing COVID-19.

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«Long Covid is not just one set of symptoms, in my opinion it is at least four, and maybe more. We are still at the foot of the understanding of what it is. However, vaccination offers a fairly high degree of protection against chronic symptoms / long-term covid – by no means complete. Even if there were no more cases, we will still live with the effects of a long Covid for a while, »emphasizes Sir Chris Whitty.

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