- Health authorities need to act urgently to prepare for autumn that could see further waves of Covid-19 cases spreading across the UK.
- More than 2 million people across Britain were found to be infected for the week ending 24 June, a rise of more than 30% from the preceding week.
- Covid-19 is not the only health threat looming on the horizon, however.
Experts emphasise the necessity to prepare the finest treatments to tackle it because they fear that new varieties will emerge as reported by The Guardian.
Unequivocal warning
In order to get ready for autumn that could see new waves of Covid-19 infections spreading around the UK, health officials must move quickly.
That is the unequivocal warning from experts in the field after numbers released last week showed yet another sharp increase in cases.
For the week ending June 24, more than 2 million people in Britain were discovered to be infected, an increase of more than 30% from the week before.
While the majority of scientists predicted that the current wave, which is being driven by the Omicron BA4 and BA5 virus strains, will peak in a few weeks, they also cautioned that it would undoubtedly be followed by another wave this autumn.
According to Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser of the UK Health Security Agency, “our current planning assumptions are that we will see at least one wave [of Covid] in the autumn-winter period once we have gotten through the current wave that we’re in right now.”
Prof. Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University, supported this opinion. We must get ready for the upcoming fall and winter, when the cooler temperatures will cause more individuals to stay inside, raising the risk of infection from new Covid strains as well as from other respiratory virus illnesses.
Next big wave
A key component of these preparations will be the selection of those vaccines that will be best suited to counter the next big wave of the disease.
Moderna, Pfizer and other drug companies are all working on vaccines that target different Omicron variants in different ways.
“However, it will be up to the government to decide which of these versions will be best for the country,” said Prof Adam Finn of Bristol University.
“Officials are likely to be influenced not so much by data which shows which formulation looks the most promising in tackling the new variants as by the company which looks the ablest to deliver the right number of vaccines on time.”
Covid-19 is not the only health threat looming on the horizon, however.
Finn said: “Basically, we have not been infecting each other with flu for two years now and so we have not been building up immunity to it.”
Winter peaks?
He added: “As a result, we are now more vulnerable to flu and we are likely to see winter peaks, possibly big ones, this year.”
Indeed, flu may turn out to be a much bigger problem this winter than Covid-19.
Other factors that could affect the nation’s well-being this winter will include the cost of living crisis.
Stephen Griffin of Leeds University also urged that a comprehensive plan for continued vaccination was needed for the UK, one that was aimed particularly at younger age groups.
“While far less common than in adults, we can expect – based on the previous wave – that the very high prevalence of Omicron will sadly cause a considerable number of juvenile hospitalisations and long Covid, whose impact on a young life is soul-destroying.”
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Source: The Guardian
