Brits have been warned that they could get deadly Covid up to “five times per year” as cases rise throughout the summer.
The warning comes from Professor Christina Pagel, from the Clinical Operational Research Unit at University College London, who also said that Covid has now morphed into an “all-year-round virus”. It comes after the latest UK Government data, up to and including July 12, shows that the number of deaths over that seven day period with Covid-19 on the death certificate was 197 people in the UK.
The week prior was 163, while June ended with 171. However, the 197 figure is the highest death toll since February 32, when 226 died, with an even higher 255 reported the week before – with 316 and 331 the two preceding weeks, respectively.
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The number of patients in hospital, which hasn’t been updated since June 30, was hovering just below 3,000, at 2,047 at the end of last month. This was around 1,000 more than the start of June, but around 1,000 less than at the start of 2024.
Speaking to Yahoo News, Professor Pagel said: “We’re still seeing loads of people getting sick and we do know from the ONS infection survey last week that they’re still getting long COVID. Even if it’s a 1% chance every time you get an infection, that’s still a lot of people that will be getting it.
“It just feels like we’re just really dragging down our health – many people used to get one or two cold a year and the flu maybe once every four or five years, but now you’re adding a Covid infection once a year on top of that.
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“And it still makes a lot of people sick enough to not be at work for several days – potentially longer than that if you have long Covid. That’s what I find quite worrying about it, it’s just disruptive.
“What worries me more is that we’re starting to feel as if being sick is normal, and it’s not.”
She also warned that Brits need to be far more careful when going out, and should plan two weeks ahead so that they don’t get sick leading up to it. Professor Pagel went on to state that masking up at big gatherings would be a good idea, but that it “wouldn’t be realistic” to expect that to happen.
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