‘We could live with Covid like flu by the end of the year’, Matt Hancock says

‘We could live with Covid like flu by the end of the year’, Matt Hancock says View 4 comments James HockadaySaturday 13 Feb 2021 8:15 am Share this article via facebookShare this article via twitterShare this article via messenger 95 SHARES Matt Hancock hopes more vaccines and better treatments will get us out of this mess (Picture: EPA/PA) The Health Secretary has had he hopes the country can live with coronavirus ‘like we do with flu’ bu the end of the year. Matt Hancock says both vaccines and drugs designed to treat Covid-19 should make it a ‘treatable disease’. His comments suggest that coronavirus could be here to stay, and that Downing Street are looking at ways to manage it in the long term, rather than eliminating it completely. It comes as the UK nears its target of offering 15million people in the top four most vulnerable categories their first jab, with more than half a million already receiving their second dose.

The UK is nearing its target of vaccinating 15million of the most vulnerable people (Picture: Getty Images)

He said he hopes a combination of both current and new vaccines and treatments will ‘be our way out to freedom and normal life’ and will make Covid-19 ‘a treatable disease by the end of the year’. When asked what he meant by ‘treatable’ he said we would need a vaccine that ‘reduces hospitalisations and deaths’ and ‘reduces transmission’, which early data suggests is the case. Hancock added: ‘If Covid-19 ends up like flu, so we live our normal lives and we mitigate through vaccines and treatments, then we can get on with everything again.’ The Health Secretary also said he hopes every adult in the UK will be offered a jab ‘a bit before September’.

The Health Secretary says he hopes Covid-19 is a ‘treatable’ disease by the end of the year (Picture: PA)

Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said he agreed with Hancock’s comments about the UK potentially living with coronavirus in the future in the same way as the flu. He told Times Radio: ‘I agree with the “by the end of the year” part, I think the jury’s out on what the future will look like.’ On news of the number of coronavirus patients in hospitals going down, he said: ‘We’re all following the data in the UK and from Israel, who are a little bit ahead of the curve in terms of vaccinations, and seeing those transmission graphs absolutely being quashed. ‘We can’t easily pick apart how much of that is lockdown, how much is vaccination, but it’s certainly both of those things. I am cautiously optimistic that we are winning finally.’

Yesterday saw the UK’s R rate – measuring the speed at which Covid-19 reproduces – fell below 1 for the first time since July. It is now estimated to be between 0.7 and 0.9 across the country, according to the latest Government figures. This means every 10 people who contract the virus will, on average, go on to infect seven to nine others. Any R number below 1 means the virus is in decline. With infections dropping, Covid hospital admissions in England are expected to half over the next month, according to projections seen by the Times. According to evidence presented by scientists to No 10, both coronavirus-related hospitalisations and deaths are predicted to fall to October levels.

 

 

Source:metro.co.uk/2021/02/13