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The coronavirus will exist “forever” and is unlikely to be eradicated, said a scientist who advises the government on the pandemic.
Professor John Edmunds, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), also said the UK can expect tens of thousands of deaths from the second wave of coronavirus in a “bleak” situation.
Britain, like other countries in Europe, is currently in the grip of a resurgence in COVID-19 infections, with much of the country under local restrictions and more than 21,000 daily cases reported Tuesday.
Professor Edmunds told the Science and Technology and Health and Social Care committees: “We are going to have to live with this virus forever.
“There is very little chance that it will be eradicated.”
Professor Edmunds added that although coronavirus will continue to exist indefinitely, the prospect of a vaccine towards the end of winter should affect the government’s strategy now.
He continued: “If vaccines are around the corner, in my opinion, we should try to keep the incidence as low as possible now, because we will be able to use vaccines in the not too distant future.”
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Professor Edmunds said the UK had played a “smart game” by investing in different coronavirus vaccines.
Britain has signed supply agreements for six different COVID-19 vaccines, with 340 million doses secured through different types of technologies.
He said: “I think we will be in a reasonable position in months.
“I don’t think we are going to vaccinate everyone, but to begin with, maybe the people most at risk, health workers, etc.”
Professor Edmunds also said that immediate action is needed, and not just regionally, to stem the rising tide of COVID-19 cases.
When asked when the second wave might peak, he said there will likely be peaks in the Northwest in the next four to six weeks unless further action is taken.
He said: “So the rest of the country is weeks behind.
“We will see spikes around Christmas, in the new year, in very severe numbers of cases across the UK.
“It’s slower and lower in the south west and south east type, but in the UK urban centers type, and that is the type of thing that we are seeing, a large number of cases, hundreds of deaths a day. “
He said the UK as a whole would probably not reach the peak seen in March and April, but parts like Liverpool were already there.
Professor Edmunds added: “I think we are in a pretty bleak situation unless we take action and have to act.
“I don’t think we should take action only specifically in the highest risk areas, but I think we need to take action everywhere to prevent them from getting into that kind of pretty dangerous situation.”
Professor Edmunds’ comments come two days after Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s top scientific adviser, said it is “unlikely” that a vaccine will completely stop infections and the disease may never go away completely.
Sir Patrick pointed out how smallpox was the only disease that had been completely eradicated and that in the future, treating COVID-19 could become more like treating seasonal flu.
Professor David Robertson, director of viral genomics and bioinformatics at the University of Glasgow, said in May that COVID-19 is “so successful” it will never be eradicated.
He told the House of Lords Science and Technology committee: “It is so communicable, it is so successful, we are so susceptible, that it is actually a little false to worry that it will get worse, because it couldn’t be much worse right now in as for the number of cases “.
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The head of the World Health Organization said in August that he expects the coronavirus pandemic to end in two years.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus He added that the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic took two years to end.
He continued: “Our situation now with more technology, of course with more connectivity, the virus has a better chance of spreading, it can move fast.”
A new study from King’s College London has found one in 20 people with coronavirus, you are likely to have symptoms for eight weeks or more.
The research, using data from the COVID symptom study app, suggested that so-called “prolonged COVID” affects about 10% of people ages 18 to 49 who become ill with the coronavirus.
