COVID-19 pandemic will be over next year in England, UK’s top scientists have claimed, adding that the worst in the UK is “almost over”, though a “difficult winter" is still expected this year.
Professor Linda Bauld, Edinburgh University scientist, has said that “if we can get through” the winter, the pandemic in the UK should come to an end in 2022, just over two years after it started, reports said.
Francois Balloux, director of the Genetics Institute at University College, London, too has claimed that despite "a few flares and outbreaks" in Europe this winter, in the countries with high rates of vaccination, including the UK, the pandemic phase of the virus will be over by the spring.
"We are seeing the lights at the end of the tunnel," BBC quoted Balloux in a report on Monday (9).
Over three-quarters of the UK's adults have received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine as the rollout continues in the country, as per figures released by the Department of Health and Social Care today (10).
A total of 86,780,455 doses have been administered in the UK, with 47,091,889 people receiving the first dose (89 per cent) and 39,688,566 people receiving both doses (75 per cent).
The government is working closely with the National Health Services to make it as easy as possible to get a vaccine, including through ‘grab a jab’ pop-up vaccine sites across the country, including one seen at London-based club Heaven last weekend as well as in football stadiums and festivals across the country, the department said.
The young population, which was reportedly showing a slowdown in Covid jab take-up, is now showing lesser vaccine hesitancy, reports said.
In those aged 18 to 21, it almost halved from 9 per cent to 5 per cent, said Office for National Statistics survey which also showed hesitancy has fallen from 14 per cent to 11 per cent in people aged 16 and 17 – who only qualified for the jab last week.
