Congress house, Building in London, England

London, June 21 British scientists on Sunday warned of "pretty miserable winter" ahead for the country due to likely emergence of new respiratory viruses, with further lockdowns a possibility.Professor Calum Semple, member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), a British government advisory body, said that children and elderly people will be especially vulnerable to endemic viruses at the end of the year, Xinhua reported.Describing it as the "fourth wave winter," he told Times Radio "there's a sting in the tail after every pandemic" because social distancing will have reduced people's exposure to usual endemic respiratory viruses such as pneumonia and bronchiolitis."I suspect we'll have a pretty miserable winter because the other respiratory viruses are going to come back and bite us quite hard," he said. "But after that, I think we'll be seeing business as normal next year."Meanwhile, Susan Hopkins, Public Health England's director for COVID-19, warned "we may have to do further lockdowns this winter" depending on whether hospitals start to become overwhelmed."I think we will have alternative ways to manage this, through vaccination, through anti-virals, through drugs, through testing that we didn't have last winter," she told the BBC.Scientists have warned that a third wave of coronavirus infections is "definitely under way" in England due to the fast spread of the Delta variant first identified in India, even though hospital admissions will hopefully not be on the same scale as in January.The recent data published by Public Health England showed the AstraZeneca vaccine is 92 percent effective against hospitalization from the Delta variant after two doses, and the Pfizer vaccine, 96 percent effective.More than 42.6 million people have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine while more than 31 million people have been fully vaccinated with a second dose, according to the latest official figures.Experts have warned that coronavirus may continue to evolve for years to come, and eventually it is likely current vaccines will fail to protect against transmission, infection, or even against disease caused by newer variants.Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Congress HouseFOLLOW

Congress house, Latest News

London, June 25 More than 2 million people in England may have had long Covid-19 lasting for at ... ...

Cardiff, June 25 England wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler had to miss the second T20 International against Sri Lanka on ... ...

Southampton, June 24 The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may be called the strongest and ... ...

It was an early morning in New Zealand when skipper Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor fashioned the historic victory ... ...

New Delhi, June 23 AstraZeneca said new data from Public Health England (PHE) demonstrated COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca, offers ... ...

Former England captain Alistair Cook has said he feels sorry for Test skipper Joe Root as he has not had his best players available in the last three series. ...

Southampton, June 21 The International Cricket Council (ICC) was left red-faced and under fire from former cricketers after ... ...

London, June 21 British scientists on Sunday warned of "pretty miserable winter" ahead for the country due to ... ...