COVID could be wiped out in the UK by winter as flu is a worse threat, a top scientist has claimed.
Professor Hugh Pennington said the success of the coronavirus vaccine rollout has hugely dampened the rampaging virus.
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He said seasonal flu is going to be more of a problem in future, if the UK is protected against Covid.
But he added there will always remain the “threat” of a variant being imported into the country.
The emeritus professor of bacteriology at Aberdeen University said the UK’s high vaccination rate was “a success story” and had “undoubtedly reduced hospital admissions and deaths”.
“I don’t see any reason of why we should need to go into lockdown again,” he said.
“We are now getting close to China and Taiwan in effectively eradicating it within our own territory.
“By this next winter Covid could be about the same problem as an average flu season and we can cope with it like we cope with flu.
“I think we will see Covid off in the UK. In fact Covid vaccines are more effective than flu vaccines, so flu may even turn out to be more of a problem in future.
“We may not even need booster jabs in the autumn, let’s wait and see.
‘WE CAN COPE WITH IT’
“I have always been sceptical about the extent of the threat from the importation of variants. Sometimes it’s been about blaming the variants for other failures in the system.
“You cannot predict a pandemic – only be ready for them. Covid-19 may turn out like SARS and just die out.”
But many other experts have said we will be living with coronavirus for a long time, with it becoming part of our life like flu.
Professor Chris Whitty Brits must “remain cautious for the next year or two”.
He said: “Technology will find its way through this in the long run. But there is a period of risk between now and then.”
Prof Neil Ferguson, of Imperial College London who advises the government, said he was also “feeling fairly optimistic that we will be not completely back to normal, but something which feels a lot more normal by the summer”.
He said: “The data is very encouraging and very much in line with what we expected.
“Whilst we’re seeing cases actually plateau at the moment – and they may start edging up – mortality, deaths and hospitalisations are still going down, and we expect them to continue to go down, maybe tick up a little bit next month but only within manageable levels.
“So that puts us in a very good position to be keeping to the government roadmap – relaxing some restrictions in a couple of weeks’ time and then many more in June.”
The next stage in the roadmap is on May 17, when pubs and restaurants will be allowed to serve indoors, and people can mingle in a group of six inside.
