MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2021) The United Kingdom is likely to experience a new surge in the coronavirus infections in the coming winter, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday.
"We also face the persistent threat of new variants and should these prove highly transmissible and elude the protection of our vaccines, they would have the potential to cause even greater suffering than we endured in January," Johnson said in the parliament.
The prime minister added that there was "a high likelihood of a surge this winter when the weather assists the transmission of all respiratory diseases and when the pressure on our NHS is most acute."
The Indian strain of the coronavirus is of particular concern, Johnson said.
In terms of other seasonal infections, the government is concerned over people's resistance to flu, the prime minister said.
"There wasn't much of a flu pandemic over the last winter period. We're worried about people's levels of resistance to flu but we have the [vaccine] capacity, and we will also have the capacity for the [COVID-19] booster jabs as well," Johnson said.
Earlier in the speech, Johnson announced an independent inquiry into the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis. The panel is expected to launch in the spring of 2022.
