Predicting waves and their height is really very, very difficult. But i think the vast majority of people in the united kingdom have ready been exposed to one ore the previous variants. And so the individual chance of going to hospital, and especially of dying, is really really much, much smaller.
The UK is yet again facing a wave of Covid infections, with cases soaring by more than half a million in a week at the end of June. This time, the wave is driven by even more transmissible variants of Omicron known as BA.4 and BA.5. But with all Covid precautions gone, and many of us heading to bars, pubs, festivals and sporting events as the summer rolls on, is it much of a surprise? Ian Sample asks Prof Graham Medley if infections will translate into hospitalisations and deaths, and whether we can expect ongoing cycles of Covid waves in the months and years to come. Help support our independent journalism at
theguardian.com/sciencepod