The Omicron variant could make Covid-19 endemic in the UK, a senior government adviser told Times Radio, which projected a diminishing impact from the new coronavirus, similar to that of the flu.
Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modeling (SPI-M) group, noted that the latest virus mutation is more contagious but less severe than previous ones.
“What could happen in the future is the appearance of a new less serious variant thanks to which, in the long term, the Covid would turn into something similar to the common cold that we have lived until now,” he said.
“We are not there yet, but perhaps Omicron is the first ray of light to suggest what could happen in the long term. Of course, it is much more transmissible than Delta, which is concerning, but much less serious,” said Tildesley. .
“We hope that, as we approach spring and observe the evolution of Omicron, we can obtain further confirmation of a possible coexistence with Covid as an endemic disease, concentrating safeguards on vulnerable and fragile subjects,” he added.
According to the expert, the variant, in the long term, “could lead us to a good point of arrival”.
Cases in London “are slowing down,” he said, but it takes scientists two weeks to see if this continues.
Dr Tildesley added that “most other parts of the country are about two to three weeks behind London in their epidemic profile.”
“Particularly worrisome is the Northeast and Northwest: if you look at hospital admissions in those two regions, they’re increasing, also in the Midlands where I live, that’s a bit worrisome too.”
And it comes as nearly two-thirds of London’s boroughs have seen Covid-19 rates drop amid hopes that the wave of Omicron infections in the capital has peaked and is starting to decline.
Covid has even reached London hospitals with 10,000 registered employees a day absent from work, revealed the NHS (national health service), so specialists from the Armed Forces were summoned to fill those vacancies.
