The UK is being warned to brace for a "swarm" of new Covid variants, which are predicted to reach the nation by next month.
A leading expert says sub-variants of the Omicron strain are quickly spreading and could hit the UK and US by November. Multiple variants are reportedly emerging at once - and are not reacting to immunity.
Cornelius Roemer, a computational biologist with Biozentrum, told The Independent: “The trends we’re seeing at the moment are very different from what’s happened in the past. Omicron was maybe the first variant that was good at evading immunity and that’s why it caused such a large wave."
Now, he says the emerging variants display extremely similar mutations. As of now, they are managing to evade immunity, reports Birmingham Live.
“The thing now in the northern hemisphere is as temperatures are going down there is already a bit of a wave without the variants having much impact,” he explained. “The variants start accelerating when they reach 50 per cent of cases but we’re very far from that. All together the new variants are only around 5-10 per cent of new cases.
“That’s what’s a bit worrying. That we already have cases going up and we know that there will be another surge due to the variants.” It comes amid reports in the UK cases are already on the uptick, with the case rate rising in the past weeks, according to figures from the ONS.
Health experts are urging anyone with Covid not to "power through " as it may do more harm than good.
Professor Danny Altman of the Imperial College London has highlighted the problems with not resting while battling the Coronavirus in his book titled 'The Long Covid Handbook'.
He said people should rest as much as possible until they test negative, while those who try to live with the virus risk developing long Covid.
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